The Final Valediction
by FlamingFlie
Summary: Waves crash on the distance shore and their shattering smacks resound around the world, the end is coming, or it’s already here, it will consume us like a hungry fire and we have nothing to stop it. *After Max III and contains Fax*
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum ride, Never can, Never will. _

**Prologue: The Final Valediction **

_" Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide with no escape from reality." _

_**- Bohiem Raphodosy, Queen **_

He warily cast an eye around the guard room, then gently turned his head to look out the huge glass window, facing the endless blanket of grey ocean. He tapped his ball point pen against the wooden surface of the desk and then flipped the switch of a radio anchored to the wall, " Clear, I'm turning on the light," he spoke into a com link then listened momentarily to the fizz of link shutting off with a short response and hung it, once again, on the army issued white wall.

Night had fallen fast and thick around the station and few pinpricks of boats were beginning to show on the once blank ocean. Rubbing his head, perhaps from exhaustion or perhaps from a itch set deep in his hairline, the man stood up and turned on the light house light. Blinking furiously as it sprang to life. He sank heavily back into his seat, wondering temporarily if his wife would save some dinner for him or whether his young son had been picked up successfully from kindergarten. He shrugged in a half hearted way and picked up a book stretched out on the desk, lying open somewhere between the middle and the end.

" Barnacle going down; Blue Marine are you there? Repeat, going down, request Help. Please Respond. Blue Marine-" The Man jolted upright and leaned over to take the com link that had erupted with vivacity, when it crackled with more voices.

" Sea's Majesty, Immediate assistance-"

" SOS, SOS… Help"

" Abandon Ship!"

" Help, God Help!"

" This is Purple Hermit, He-"

At least ten voices leapt onto the com link and the man stumbled to pick of the receiver, it fizzed with static and he punched in coordinates. " Blue Marine?" Nothing, he put in more coordinates and frantically tried to find at least one response, but to no avail. With panic he tried to contact the main line, he heard frenzied scraping and noises, then all was still; the line was dead.

Terrified, he gripped the com link harder, his hand slippery with sweat. He stood on wobbly feet and stumbled over to the window, pressing his eyes against the thick glass. His breath stopped in his throat.

" God have mercy." He said quietly, and the glass shattered, throwing him against the desk, he was dead before he hit the ground. Three thousands pounds of water pressure cascaded into the lighthouse, ripping it off it's foundation it rolled helpless in the waves, slamming into the ships it had tried so hard to save.

The war had begun.

W

Mr., Danning was white faced, his eyed glued to the television screen before him.

" What is the meaning of this?" His voice shook, but he didn't take his eyes off the screen. " What's happening?"

" A huge landslide happened on Canary Islands, causing massive tidal waves." The man in front of the president was extremely thin with a gaunt face and a large balding spot on one side of his meticulous combed gray hair, he set an advanced laptop down on the presidents desk and clicked on the mouse." The landslide happened around eight hours ago-"

" Why wasn't I informed?" The president interrupted looking livid, but the man brushed him aside with little patience.

" All communications have been.. Cut off," he said after clearly searching for words. " Debris from the, eruption, have severed links from the surrounding area. See here," he pointed to the screen where a digital image of the volcano was. " Rocks are littered nearly a mile away at farthest, The Canary Islands-" He pressed on another button and waves of different colors spread out from the core. " Were completely swallowed." He moved the mouse expertly around and the map spanned out to show the entire globe. " Waves are now as far as Miami and New York, hitting all the cities on the East Coast, the death toll is raising as we speak. " He moved the arrow to South America, then in turn West Africa, West Europe and Australia. " Every country bordering the Atlantic ocean is suffering from casualties."

The President was silent for several minutes and then spoke, "Nobody heard anything about the waves before they struck? How is that possible?"

"Oh it's very possible." Something wasn't right about the mans voice, Mr. Danning looked up sharply and the man was smiling, insanity mixing in his eyes.

"You see," the man said articulating each word with precision. "It is time for the United States to fall as the greatest Superpower the world has ever seen." He laughed silently, reaching slowly into his jacket and pulling out a craftily made ivory pistol and almost playful pointing it at the president. "And you gave it to us on a silver platter."

"Itex," the president said quietly and the man in front of him smiled wider.

"Of course. You have been slowly feeding us, and we have grown larger and larger and now we have finally encompassed the entire world." The president nervously tapped on the desk and his fingers slipped to hit a silver butter under his desk, and once again the man laughed. "If you think they'll save you, your sadly mistaken." Panic had now filtered into the presidents graying eyes. His hands shook, but the man took no notice. "You see now? You have never been in control, you were just our puppet and the world will blame you for all their pain." He flicked his hand upwards and glanced at his watch. " Well your times up Mr. President, the second stage of our plan has yet to take place." He fixed the gun on the presidents frightened face. " I'm sorry it's come down to this Paul, I really am." And he pulled the trigger with no emotion betraying his cold, hard face.

W

How long does it take for mad scientists to blow up the world and enslave humanity? My guess: one year, it took eight months.

We barely put up a fight. After the tidal waves the east coast was taken out without a blink. Then came the solar flare that cut out technology across the entire globe. Itex took the great empire down first, then reached it's poisoned fingers towards Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. With no technology we were helpless. The Erasers version 6.0 came out, flawlessly transforming into humans, winged wolfs, human wolfs and great big dogs with razor sharp teeth; a four in one package. A war raged for seven months, it took three months to subdue the United States, The Canadians and The United Kingdom and four to completely dissemble the armies of Russia, China, Japan, France and Germany. Within a month of the defeat, huge factories sprung up in every large city. Laboratories branched like spider webs connecting to each other; and still more came. Humans were slaughtered and forced into slavery, experimentation ran wild and new mutants were made daily with horrible side effects; simply put, it was hell.

It's our job to destroy Itex. If there is one way, however small to save this planet were going to take it no matter what the toll, we will fight with no remorse, we will break every rule and every moral we ever gave ourselves.

So, am I scared? Not a chance.

_**AN: So tell me what you think everyone! Review me with flames, grammar corrections, praiseful-ness, because you have nothing to do or because you have everything to do. You reviewers amaze me and you make me so dang happy I want to run my head into a wall or something ( because of happiness)… anyway, hope you liked it! ( Oh and I thank mergirl007, DivideByNegativeZero and some anonymous person for giving me grammar corrections) **_

_** Flamingflie **_


	2. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum ride, __Why__? I seriously don't know!_

**Chapter One: Rules Gone with your back flat on the floor. **

_"I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind, I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time. I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon; I feel there's nothing I can do." _

_Kryptonite, Three Doors down. _

_A year after the prologue; roughly speaking of course, who keeps time anymore?_

Remember that no guns rule? Well, that was the first one broken.

"God Max, get down!!" Fang shoved my head down once again and the car bucked furiously as I yanked hard on the steering wheel.

"I can't see Fang! Geroff me!" Reluctantly, he pulled his hand off my head and I pushed the petal down to the ground, wrenching the wheel to stay on the road. The gears ground loudly as we cruised up a hill, bullets raining from either side. I heard a loud KABOOM and a hoot of delight from Iggy and Gasman, the car spun from the force of the explosion and I strained my arms to keep steady.

Fang swore loudly as another wave of bullets rippled through the air around us; I didn't contradict him swerving onto the empty highway, the tires screeching.

I heard the click of Fang reloading a gun and my ears screamed in protest as bullets hailed from his passenger window, to say the least, I really understand the 'Shot Gun' concept.

Angel's pale, bloody face appeared from the back and she grabbed the med pack next to my seat. Then ducked as a bullet shattered the window shield completely. I felt pain pierce across my face and I shook my head to clear the safety glass covering my hair an eyes, ignoring the pain, I poured on more speed.

Before me was a jungle of twisted metal and rotting animal bodies; mostly cattle, the car was protesting loudly now and I pushed it still farther.

"Max!" Nudge was yelling from the backseat, but I didn't take my eyes off the road. "The engines giving out!!" It was mine turn to swear loudly, and then I spoke vociferously.

"Get ready for U and A," I saw an exit ahead, covered with at least five flyboys. Too bad. I crashed into them going eighty miles an hour; the car teetered dangerously then righted itself as I jerked the wheel into the woods.

Simultaneously, four doors opened and we scrambled into the air. I caught sight of Iggy tossing a bomb at the car and it burst into flame. I flapped feverishly and Fang passed me, shoving a loaded gun into my shaking hands.

"Loose them in the woods!" I shrieked to the flock and I dived towards the trees, turning in mid air and letting five bullets spin behind me, I hit one flyboy. Well hey, never said I had good aim.

Nudge swooped under me and flicked around and fired with two guns in her hands, seven shots, seven severed body parts of flyboys. Sheesh, where a twelve year old bird kid learned how to shoot like that I don't know.

I dived deeper into the undergrowth, and a bullet whizzed right past my ear; an inch from being brain dead forever. I shivered, pumping my wings harder. Pulling out of an extremely hard to navigate tunnel, I looked back and fired again, but knew I'd hit nothing. I plunged downward and missed a thick mossy branch by inches. I breathed deeply and then plummeted between a vine and down towards the strangled trunks.

I shot out of the woods going around 120 and skidded to a stop on a metal roofed shop, feeling the smooth surface under my feet. The town was rather small, but served as our safe haven for at least a month before demolished by the new Erasers. I turned my head, my ears pricked for any sound, _click_, Crap.

A man stood before me, taller than Iggy and with straw colored hair. His eye's full of ruthlessness and a strong supple look to his arms and legs; Eraser version 4.0. He was grinning wolf like at me, a gun posed in one hand, the other broad and clenched at his side.

I heard the _crack_, but felt no pain ripple through my body, _this is strange_, I thought, and then with a whoosh of wings, Nudge, Fang and Angel landed next to me. A gun both pressed in Nudges and Fangs hands, blood streaking out the fallen Eraser in front of me.

"I'll remember we have to look after you more often," Fang said cockily and I glared at him. In a life death situation leave it up to Fang to find pleasure in others mistakes; not to say I wouldn't criticize him the instant he screws up.

Suddenly three shots rang out and Fang and I looked up startled as three Erasers hurtled to the ground. "Call yourself even Fang," Nudge said with amusement in her eyes, reloading her gun effortless.

I looked over at her, her brown hair pulled back in a braid she did herself and her darker skin contrasting violently with Angel's white. She had forced herself to grow up, she was still the chatterbox we know and love, but she spoke less and not as frequently. She was stronger, older, one of us; the leaders.

I turned to the twelve year old and registered the reflection of other bird kids in her eyes and quickly turned to see Gazzy and Iggy descending towards us looking blackened, but otherwise still intact.

"Ready?" I asked and looked at my scraggly group; all with various sizes of bandages on their limbs. (Nudge was becoming quiet the medic, and Angel just loved carrying the medical bag around to help her.)

"Yep," It was Nudge who replied. "What meeting point?"

"Catwalk," Fang answered cutting me off, then looking at my face. "Max, we need to clean you up."

"What?" I said startled, and Fang leaned over to Angel and grabbed the med bag.

"Your face has a huge gash in it." I pressed a finger at my face and pulled it back sticky with red.

"Crap…" I said under my breath and Fang rolled his eyes, taking out antibiotics and dotting the cut; it stung like hell.

Fangs hand moved under my chin and titled it up and looked at me, observing his work, I felt my face heating up remembering when I had last been in this position and when he looked away, a smirk was just visible on his dirty face. I wanted to smack him.

"Erm.. Fang, can I have a look at Max?" Nudge asked and without waiting, positioned herself firmly in front of me. "Can I try something Max?'

"What-"

"Just close your eye's it won't hurt," she said irritably and I closed my eyes, trusting her with my precious face ( that, my friends, would be sarcasm). She put her fingers on my abrasion and I felt warmth spread through the cut; the pain just slipped away. I heard a gasp and then opened my eyes.

"What-" I said for a second time and saw Fangs look of puzzlement, Angel was smiling widely and Gasman was gaping. Iggy looked petulant and was about to ask what had happened and was cut off by Nudge.

"I healed your face Max!" She said absolutely delighted. I reached up and touched my face and it was completely smooth, save a small notch of scar tissue.

"That's great Nudge!" I said putting warmth into my smile and she beamed, the kids getting some skills, you know?

"Okay let get going!" Angel called instantly ruining the moment, it was unlike her. "Erasers Max," Angel answered my unasked question. We all took off with out a word, guns and bombs loaded in our hands and adrenaline pumping through our hearts.

Just to help you all out in short this is what happened in the past year; we (being the flock) left Ms. Martinez's house sometime in the spring (April-ish maybe?) Well as you know, the kids were in some need of some 'real' parents. So we set to work, checking everything starting with birth records and bordering on everything else. Then an urgent message came from Jeb, via the voice and everything changed. He told me that new establishments had erupted all over the world; all concerning Itex. The logo was still emblazed on many small items and was starting to take root in higher places such as appearing on planes, ships and trains; so they were targeting major transportation. We were sent to investigate a main facility up in the Andes Mountains; by then it was late summer and the kids were worn thin by the slow progress on their parents. We made our way sluggishly towards the peaks, but found nothing that would suggest that Itex had taken headquarters there.

We were getting nowhere fast and Fang asked me if we should finally find a place to stay; a home. With a few arguments ( heated arguments, mind you) I agreed and we ended up somewhere in the Rockies, conveniently not thousands of miles away from Arizona.

Jeb's final cry came somewhere during fall; it was nearing Halloween. He told me that Itex was going to spring a plan into action, he didn't know what but soon, he said he was very afraid. By the time we flew down to Arizona it had already started. Tidal waves came crashing down the east coast sent by a volcanic eruption caused by Itex in the Canary Islands. The second attack came three days later when a huge solar flare rippled across the sun, sending technology into spasms ( How Itex did this still alludes me, it's one of the many questions that remain unanswered) . Then the war had began. The United States were the first Conquered and we flew subtly to Canada following Jeb's last order. A week after he issued the command he was killed along with my mother, Ella survived but her whereabouts are still unknown to us.

We joined a resistance team along the border of Quebec where Canadians and Americans converged. We entered the battle for the summit and lost. Escaping barely with our lives we fled to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, by then the other side of the world was conquered. I lost the date, but it must have been a little over a year. We stayed in the mountain range for a week and then decided to act. Following a web of old Itex labs we pieced together the whereabouts of hidden facilities and made a final decision. We would find the rest of the mutants and humans alike; the ones still willing to fight and declare a last stand for the world, a last hope. (What a nice thought, eh?)

W

_Sometime later __( hours__, not days) _

I circled one last time around a small charred clearing and then with a decision pulled my wings into a dive and landed on the blackened ground. "We'll stop here tonight," I said and the others nodded when they landed. Nudge did several 360's her guns both loaded in her hands, then satisfied she slipped one deep into her backpack and the other into a loop on her belt. Fang dropped some firewood in a small sheltered crevice and quickly set Iggy on the task of making food; canned beans, what a treat, right?

We ate in silence; our eyes twitching from left to right and our necks whirling to look back every so often.

"Is the world ever going to be normal again?" When Nudge got started on this topic she rarely gave it up and I practically groaned.

"Please, not now honey, later okay?" She shook her head her curls bouncing.

"Do you think that maybe that this was meant to happen?" Hmmm a thought.

"What do you mean?" Gazzy asked, a fork held tightly in his fist, as if he feared separation.

"Well, you know their was supposed to be something like the final judgment one day right?" Once we nodded she continued. "Well what if Itex is just a catalyst for what has to happen."

"Isn't the third world war supposed to be the end of this planet," Iggy said thoughtfully, not looking at anyone (as if he could in normal situations, but hey, it's pretty creepy when his sightless eyes somehow seem to focus on yours, ask me, I know).

"Right," Nudge nodded enthusiastically.

"I don't think so," Angel said and everyone turned to look at the small yellow head. "With mutants and everything? I just don't know Nudge, but from what I've been hearing." she shivered visibly and I squeezed her hand encouragingly. "Even if it was, it wouldn't make a difference would it? I mean we still have to fight and everything."

"But, if what Nudge said is right then we wouldn't have to fight would we? Because the end would be the same either way." Iggy looked in the general direction of Nudge as he spoke and she looked thoughtful.

"But we don't _know_ that," Gasman said, now concentrating harder on the conversation. "We can't just let millions of people die, hoping that it's some final Judgment day thing."

Fang nodded and said simply, "I agree with Gazzy."

"I don't know Nudge, but my mission is to save the world-"

"Our mission," Fang corrected me instantly followed by nods of consent from the rest of the flock; I glared at him.

"Anyway, I'm going to try to save the world, regardless of what any larger power than myself happens to say," after verbalizing this I stood up, signifying that this discussion was over. "Get some rest guys I have first watch."

W

It was night now, the amber coals glistening with a fire of their own in our small pit. I looked up at the speckled sky and couldn't help smile, I loved the sky; and no not just because I was part bird. The heavens lay out before me, never changing, always there to catch me in my never ending fall from grace.

Pondering silently, I hardly heard the footsteps behind me and jumped slightly when Fang slid down next to me. "Hey," he said softly and I nodded in acknowledgement. Both of us were silent for awhile; I knew Fang was thinking too and staring thirstily into the sky, like it held the answers; as if.

"You know I was thinking," Fang began and I gave him a 'no duh' look, which he ignored. "Will the Mutants want to join us?"

I had thought of that question many times but didn't know how to put it into words. "Everything they've become," I began slowly but loudly. "All the pain that they've lived with, comes from one source; Itex. Given a chance to destroy that one enemy I believe they'll take it." I breathed deeply into the black abyss and Fang spoke again.

"Max, are you willing to die for that one cause?"

"Yes," I had always known that answer. "Aren't you?" He considered this for a moment and then turned to look at me.

"Max, you know if we save the world, it will still be poisoned." It was my turn to mull over his words.

"But we'll take away the source, someday it will be cured." Now he laughed silently.

"You never had hope for us, did you? I don't either," I looked sharply at him but he avoided my eyes. "Everything's going to die, I know were just biding our time. But Max; I'm not afraid to die."

"Neither am I Fang," and I met his eyes, for a long time it was if a current had passed between us of complete understanding. Then Fang lifted his hand and squeezed my shoulder. "You should get some sleep." And the connection was broken.

I nodded curtly and got up, my feet crunching as I walked over to Nudge and lay down next to her, facing her face; her eyes were wide open.

"Max, I'm not afraid either." She whispered softly and turned her head the other way, her curls glistening in the fire. I was stunned slightly, Nudge my little sister, was growing up. I reached over and squeezed her shoulder as Fang had mine and lay down, my dirty winged back touching her dirty winged one.

_**AN: Review!! **__**Even if it's just to proclaim your love for strange apple strudels or impudent children.**__** If **__**your**__** nit-picky with grammar, have at it!! Burn me as much as you want!! Reviews are just that much fun, I mean you CAN say anything and I don't have one clue to who you are ( Oh and thanks to my nit-picky friends Mergirl007, DivideByNegativeZero, and then that anonymous person for helping me correct SOME things) **_

_** Flamingflie**_

__


	3. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't know why I would want to own Maximum Ride; I mean other than the fact that it's awesome and would make me rich. _

_Just 'bye the bye', I'm going to be adding clips about another mutant party to make it less boring for me to type ( you see, I like to write third person and __Maxie__ here doesn't like that), that and you get to see different people once and awhile. _

**Chapter Two: When everything you've know disappears; ****You**** really knew nothing in the first place. **

_"You wake in bed at night and think about your life, do you want to be different, Try to let go of the truth the battles of your youth, cause' this is just a game, It's a Beautiful Lie! It's a perfect Denial! __Such a beautiful life to believe!"__ - Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds to Mars. _

_Fantasy?_

_No Reality. _He swapped back through his mind and could feel her nod without seeing, knowing her growing fear of severing completely from the fuzzy outline of actuality that they lived in.

_I'd rather have it be Fantasy, I really would_. He reached out with his mind, much further than the white coats believed possible, so that she could feel a gentle squeeze on her arm from across the room. She smiled briefly and then it vanished as the metal crate felt even colder on her tanned skin.

_We all do, _he slowly pushed and she relinquished.

_Raid__… ?_

_It will be tonight. _

_Promise?_

_Promise._

She opened her eye's and looked through the wire bars of her cage, meeting the brilliant green gaze of Raid opposite her. He had always been there for her, a sibling she never had. She gave him a quick, soft smile before closing her eye's once again, this time pulling up a picture of the little boy in the crate next to her.

_Render, you there?_

_Where else would I be? _The eleven year old snapped back sarcastically.

_Raid said tonight, _she said mentally and the thought gripped the child.

_Really?__Your__ not lying __Keria_He didn't want false hope, he couldn't handle it again.

_No, really. _Jubilance rang through Renders body and instantly he passed the message through the other five crates. The girls rose each in turn shaking their heads and fluttering their eye's open, all filled with Excitement.

Dew and Rain were the only two blood siblings; Dew was Renders age and Rain was nearly thirteen, but they couldn't be any different. Rain had bright green eye's and light brown hair, with a large pair of emerald and noire wings. Dew had gray eye's and light almost white, blonde hair. She possessed not an inch of feathers, but instead pearly almost translucent skin and great leathery wings that jutted possessively out of the her thin starved back. The other three girls were older than both all being thirteen, but had no relation what so ever. Pink looked the most reptilian, with a greenish tinge to her skin and scaled wings, her hair was extremely short and black sticking up in strange angles. Flight was gentle and fair, she was missing an arm and several fingers; even though younger than Raid and Keria she was the undisputed leader and the one that had been altered most by the labs fatal experiments. Nicky was younger than Pink and Flight; reaching the age of thirteen just weeks previous. She had long Auburn hair and a ring of freckles around her face that had been set stony ever since the death of her brother two years ago, but more changes than that separated her from the others.

Nicky looked up restless upon the rest of her pack, she knew in many ways she was different. She didn't share the distinct wings cut deeply into the others backs, nor the avian hollow bones, but those differences didn't push her considerably away from the others it was the fact that she had grown up most her life as an eraser. She could morph fully into a wolf or a winged animal with razor sharp teeth and even deadlier claws, but this she didn't mind. The fear apparent on the rest of the pack was really the thing that struck home…. That she was so different, so altered that it was if she had lost any shred of humanity in those few scary moments when the blood thirsty mind of a wolf began to consume her.

Feeling uncomfortable she moved against the cold plastic container that held food, she could feel thoughts course around her and felt no inclination to join in, distancing herself from them as if she were floating on a raft away from an island.

_Nicky?__ You okay? _And just like that it was reeled right back in, tight against the shore and welcoming sand.

_Yes, _but she knew Raid could tell she was lying.

_Nicky, don't worry, I promise we won't leave you behind. _

_What about last time? _She snapped back starting to leave the gentle waters.

_I don't make empty promises. _And she was stuck somewhere in the middle with coral just below her, she didn't reply, but just watched the images her mind had established. The soft cry of sea gulls and the lively spray of ocean air, salty and bitter. She didn't want to remember last time, but it came clawing back to her like an unwanted dream.

_There was a scraping sound then a loud __oof__ and the air left out of the Erasers lungs. __" Run__ Nicky, Run!!!" She turned and fled down the next corridor, the white walls gleaming around her. She heard the squeak of Raid and __Keria's__ footsteps behind her and then they burst out into the open, leaves dancing in the moonlight. Then the others had come, out of some other door way, Flight leading the way followed closely by Dew, Rain, Pink and Render. "Go!" Urged __Keria__ and she sprinted towards the undergrowth when the air suddenly leapt with angry snarls; hundreds of them. She watched the others take instant flight and Erasers pour out of the woods and the lab and hurl themselves into the air. Then pain spread through her limbs as claws scraped across her face and hands the size of clubs smacked into her head. The last coherent sight she saw was seven figures in the sky illuminated by the moon; they had left her. _

Then she was back on the raft floating farther and farther away, not hearing the softest voice crying her name.

W

The brother's looked at each other, grimy with sweat and dirt, but ever face alive with a flickering flame of excitement. They were crouched low outside the walls of a pale laboratory, the crunching sounds of Erasers doing their rounds apparent in the silence.

Softly, one of the boys held a blow dart in his hand and put it between his lips. Without a second of hesitation he blew. It flew with a rolling arch and wedged itself firmly into an Erasers back, simultaneously five more arrows were shot, and six Erasers coiled into small piles on the ground.

The party of seven, shot up from their hiding place and raced to the back door, jamming their backs against the thick concrete wall. No one spoke as one boy stepped forward and sealed putty on the hinges of the door way, fixing a small battery run timer next to it. He ducked over to the other boys and with a soft whoosh the explosives went off and the hinges snapped.

Quietly all entered the lab, all armed with an assortment of weapons. They padded straight then turned sharply right, all ears pricked. Then one by one they slipped through an unseen chamber into a dark room; with eight broad metal crates.

W

We were in a car; again. With slightly less pressure amounted on my chest I turned and surveyed the rest of flock lounging easily in the back of the Ford. This, I thought to myself, is a major improvement. The Ford didn't have manual transmission and everyone was feeling a lot more free with an open sky above them other than the a faded bullet worn roof. The top above me and Fang was peeled away as well, and I felt slightly more comfortable without my hands clutched to a steering wheel. Fang was driving.

I fingered the trigger of my bullet with a little bit of itch to pull the smooth metal lever. This was Fang's favorite gun; a machine gun of all kinds, but none the less useful in a car situation. I looked up at Fang, his face as always set in a rather grim mask, his knuckles slightly white on the grey wheel. In a way he had become even darker and more illusive since the fall of mankind ( who wouldn't?) but with Fang it was as if someone different had died everyday and his lips were always either in a strait line or curved slightly downward.

I sighed loudly and looked over to the road again, feeling Fang's gaze skitter past me and then stare back at the road as my eyes were. " Were almost here," he said suddenly and I looked around to realize that some of the blackened buildings had familiar names that had been described to us, if we were told correctly two people would be waiting to escort us into the rebel base at catwalk.

" Yep, Guys," I called mildly to the back. " Be ready in five." They all nodded, dark bags apparent under all their drooping eyes.

" How long we going to be here?" Said Nudge, trying to stifle a yawn and failing miserably. I shrugged, feeling the weight of Fang's old sweatshirt on my shoulders. Ever since the 'attack' clothes were bountiful, but I still hated ravaging through dead peoples belongings.

" Two people, ahead," Angel suddenly said from behind my seat.

" Erasers?" I instantly sent back, making sure that we hadn't been duped, but she shook her head.

" No, I think their our guides." She looked a bit distant and then sat heavily back in her seat. Total finally made an appearance by licking her hand affectionately; he had remained scarce for the past day in Fang's lumpy backpack.

" Max, I'm pulling over," Fang said definitely and I nodded as he inched the wheel to a half intact curb.

It only took a minute for two people to emerge from the back of an old movie theater, all my muscles were bunched up ready to fly into action if necessary, but they made no apparent threat. They approached the car steadily, keeping their eye's fixed on our beaten car.

" Are you Max?" A females voice spoke out of a mass of dark dread locks and Fang chuckled softly because the question had been posed on him. She looked at him skeptically her eyebrows arched nearly into her hair line.

" That would be me," I said coolly, ignoring both Fangs and Iggy's quiet sniggering. She raised her eyebrows further, if that's at all possible, and examined me closely, taking in the amount of blood splattered on my jeans and the visible bruises stretching across my face like a plastered canvas. For first impressions I think I may have finally mastered the ability to portray everything I'd been up to in the past month on my self image, the woman clearly thought so too.

" You came from Canada?" It was then that I noticed her accent, French or Spanish maybe? I nodded with a quick jolt and she seemed to accept my answer. " We have a great deal to catch up on then, Maximum Ride." It was the way she said my name that sent chills down my spine and I had a feeling that something just wasn't right, growing up the way I had, I learned to rely on these feelings like a religion.

" Oh, so do I," I said quietly at her. I opened the door to the Ford, I didn't trust her and I met Fang's eye's as my feet touched the fractured pavement. I could tell he didn't either.

The ground was cracked as if something had imploded under the street surface, giving the road a brittle ice appearance. The gashes ran deeply and some parts of an underground tunnel were visible; dark and breathing currents of putrid air. To me, this was by no means an improvement from our last situation and I was about to snap at someone ( preferably Total because of his lack of self dignity in displaying such mutant/dog needs so noticeably) when Nudge spoke up.

" Is that the sewer running under us?"

" Yes," the man spoke confidently and with a lot more enthusiasm than the woman had. " But it's much more useful than just a sewer duct, it's our water source." Nudge wrinkled her nose in disgust and I saw Iggy making gagging motions over her shoulder. " Well we purify it before using it of course," he said indignantly. " And by no means does that mean we drink it, much of our energy comes from water power, mills." He clarified, winding his hand in a clockwise motion. " Our drinking water comes from the wells and some gatherings of rain water, the rivers and lakes are out of the question-"

" Why?" Nudge said promptly, " why can't you use the lakes and rivers?"

" Why?" He looked at her as if she was a dim child, but shook his head and continued. " Haven't you seen where all the laboratories are based?"

" All the major lakes and some of the smaller ones in the upper north and including many in the European countries." Fang rattled off in a even voice and I looked at him incredulously.

" That's right," the man said nodding. " So the factories control the water ways."

" What about the rivers though?" Nudge looked questionably at the man and once again he looked flustered.

" Where do rivers come from?" He asked her in a teacher-student voice and she glared at him.

" I don't know," she said sarcastically and then looked sharply at him. " Rivers come from Lakes and Glaciers, most of the time it's when many smaller streams flow into each other to make a larger flowing current."

" Precisely," his childlike tone had returned, but as he continued it grew graver. " So who owns the lakes? The laboratories right? And they have dumped chemicals into all the major rivers at the source; the lakes and glaciers."

" They can't pollute all the lakes," said Iggy logically, eerily locking his unseeing eye's on the man; who obviously thought it was unsettling as well and flinched slightly.

" Your right, for now of course, but it still makes water harder to come by."

" Won't the ground water eventually become contaminated?" Nudge looked worriedly down at the earth and he nodded his head.

" The rain as well, since it soaks up the moisture from the bodies of water."

I chewed on this for a minute before opening my mouth, but my words were snatched from the air.

" Something's coming…" Angel had her eye's pasted shut and her face was whiter that a sterilized hospital sheet.

" What?" Fangs voice was stern and forceful to penetrate Angel's aura. A look of confusion past over her small face, but it quickly dawned to horror.

" It's not Erasers… I'm not really sure if it's alive," her words sent shivers down my spine and I felt a dread hanging over me. " It's…." Her eye's were screwed tighter now and she was shaking with exhaustion; but nobody stepped up to ease her pain because of the fear of breaking her concentration. Then she just stood perfectly strait as if she was a board perched on it's side; her eye's snapped open and iridescent blue found fading brown.

" It's a frost Max," she said in a very secluded voice. " It's going to sweep through the city, it's as if the scientists are starting an ice age, targeting every being that's ever been infected by the lab." She took a deep breath. " The laboratory chemicals pulsing in our blood."

Nobody swore; they didn't have to.

_**AN: So did you like it? Or do you think I've been sucking to many spaghetti noodles? Quite briefly **__**( so**__** I don't loose your attention) REVIEW! Or you shall be hanged or quartered **__**( which**__** would suck a considerable amount). Oh and before I stop typing I'm going to thank **__**Dragonology**__**, Mergirl007 and **__**billy**__** morph, for correcting some of my grammar and telling me to separate the dang points of view. Thanks to all and review!**_

___**Flamingflie**___


	4. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I am not balding and therefore, couldn't possibly be James Patterson._

**Chapter Three: Breaking your fists with paper wings. **

_" I walk a lonely road; the only one that I have ever know don't know where it goes but it's only me and I walk alone." - Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Green Day. _

On the frozen plain of faint existence, life forms stirred out of the icy landscape. They seemed to form from the stagnant air, converging as a grand mass on one side, their cruelly chipped statures casting shadows upon the ground. As a brutal wind descended on the terrain the animals shook their great heads scattering flecks of ice into the turbulence. The thick matt of gleaming white hair bristled on their neck, perhaps in agitation one could not be so sure.

They stood like mammoths or saber-toothed tigers, claiming the land as their own territory. Snapping their smooth jaws, icicles clinging to the tendrils of hair bunched up beneath their pointed ears. They lashed their reptilian tails, smacking the lakes surface with such brute force that cracks laced beneath their ominously carved claws.

This was the final installment of terror the lab had unleashed, the last successful recombinant life form to embellish the tearing fabric of control the scientist's still held loosely on the planet. Now it was over.

Hundreds of wingspans stretching longer than an overturned semi engulfed the frozen abyss of the lake and swept to take the skies without a second of hesitation. The definition of synchronicity and proficiency, with morals buried deeper than the scientists that built them.

W

She was tapping the pencil hard against the desk, not in a beat, but erratic and fast like her shallow breathing. _How could they have done this? _She herself had just woken from a sort of stupor slumber, one that had in fact lasted several months. She squeezed her eye's shut again at a momentary painful pulse of her heart accompanied by a slight murmur, then opened them again as it dissipated.

Born with several birth defects and a deep dose of down syndrome, she had been kept in a living coma for months on end, of course until the solar flares cut off all technology and the coma became self induced by her body. Now for at least a week she had been awakened from that slumber; from what she did not know, but somehow she felt clearer, somewhat fuller.

She scratched something down on the sheet of paper and then stubbornly scratched it out, shaking her pounding head slightly. There had to be a way… Everything could be done. For six days she had been researching solar flares ( bordering more on an obsession really) seeing how a farley young sun could cause that large of a stir up that it interrupted radio signals and the more important military technology across the globe. Being slightly different than most people, she had a sort of bulldog manner to life, fighting against all odds to see something clearly even if it took her all the consciousness she possessed.

So far she had somewhat of a vague idea of what had happened, she knew of course that solar flares were in direct correlation with sunspots, which were caused by small area's that were cooler than the rest of the suns surface. It was plausible that by somehow cooling small portions of the sun or somehow swaying the magnetic field surrounding it ( which of course was impossible seeing that technology really didn't expand that far into space travel without a thick enough shield to save whatever was inside the shuttle) many sunspots could be formed and thus creating an abundance of solar flares this, however, did not explain why they were so effective on the earth.

With a tedious hand she wrote down, _Solar wind_, and then puzzled sank farther into her chair. Solar wind traveled up to 400 km a second, but the pressure that it put on the sun was really insignificant to the mass of the huge burning orb. But then again solar wind could alter the magnetic field of the earth slightly, helping a flare along on it's way to corrupt the orbit of satellites, destroying communications. It was possible, not very plausible but in a small sliver, slightly possible. But how would one control it?

With deliberation she let her pencil fall from her fingertips and hit the ground with a small clatter and her train of thought was disrupted. She began bending to retrieve it but stopped herself; she hadn't had fresh air in forever, maybe opening the window would allow her to process more information.

Pushing herself with great effort she managed to stand slightly crooked with a crutch packed tightly under one arm. With a very slow hobble, she pushed herself with sheer determination to the window and fingered the latch with bent yellowed nails. Feeling the old metal lever she pulled and with a little coaxing it came loose. She looked out the open window, not seeing the dead in the streets, not seeing the broken buildings; the shattered glass; the fires rampaging around the bent and twisted street lights.

She slid back into her worn chair and wondered momentarily why the Nurse was running a bit late, it had only been a couple of hours since she last came in hadn't it? She started tapping her pencil erratically against the desk and a single thought escaped her mind before she began scratching on it. _How could they have done this?…_

W

Life to me is difficult. There's no specific answer; it's a mass of conclusions and theories that I have to clump together to discover one truth. Take now for instance. Angel had her eye's closed and her brow furrowed furiously, her jaw was set tight, and sweat had erupted and trickled down the front of her forehead. A frost, something that was contained in my anatomy that brought it here, I hated being a piece of the puzzle; I wanted to be the puzzle; to own the freaking pieces. But like I said, life's difficult.

I felt the eye's of the rest of my flock and the two others staring hard at me, it was my decision.

" How far is Catwalk?" I asked evenly, shrouding every bit of fear I had in my deep set jaw.

" An hour," the woman looked up at the sky and once again looked back at me and I nodded.

" Take us-"

" Stop!" Iggy had suddenly cut in, a great fear bubbling from his throat. " Get under cover!!" I didn't have a second thought and grabbed Angels hand thrusting us both into an abandoned building. We stumbled through a shattered window and collapsed under a table with a leg missing.

A strange hissing sound escaped from the air around us and I felt a great wave of cold cover my shoulders like a thick cloak. The pieces of glass around me began to glaze over with ice and with a loud crackling noise, rime skittered its way through the framework of the building, running up the heavy steel bolting, I had a sudden foreboding grasp my senses. What happens when old steel gets brittle? The walls began to groan, Bingo.

" Ang-" my voice was cut off by the intense chill imbedding itself into my lungs; it was a kind of cold I had never felt before, cutting deeply through my porous skin. My grip on Angel tightened and I sent her a single thought, _strength_. I felt her head turn and look at the metal, it was creaking dangerously now and fear emanated wildly off of her.

Ice was now lacing its way across the broad surface of the floor, stretching long and hard to cover everything. I had to make a decision now, chunks from the ceiling began to shake with the effort of keeping themselves in place and my head was growing dizzy from the freezing air in my lungs.

With a resounding crack the ceiling gave way and the table collapsed under a level of rubble and splintering metal. I was unconscious in seconds.

**AN: Sorry if this confused you in the slightest, but to let everyone know, the first and second part are completely unrelated and the Down Syndrome woman is going in an endless cycle ( hence why her first and last thoughts are exactly the same and the mention of the nurse that she believes to be coming), some people that have Down Syndrome ( I don't know if this is an actual fact, I believe I heard it somewhere though and neglected to look it up) are geniuses in one particular subject, for example math, science or music, but on other subjects they are severely lacking. That is why she has the air of a 'scientist'. ( oh and she was kept in coma because of a pre-existing heart condition, when her chest was murmuring.. That's a thing that hearts do before attacks.. I think) **

** Anyway, Thank you for all the reviews people ( right now I'm editing, so I can see that I have 39 and am mucho impressed) Please Review!! It's absolutely smashing when you do, and thank you to Mergirl007 for clarifying some sketchy parts and grammar mistakes. **

** Flamingflie**

**REVIEW! ( I haven't hung anybody yet, but a few have been quartered.) **


	5. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I AM NOT A MAN!!! __( or__ am I?)_

**Chapter Four: The fall hurts a lot more then the impact; it doesn't change the ground one bit**

_" In__ the long run we get no more than we have been willing to risk giving." - Sheldon Kopp _

Fangs breath came in much faster than normal, bleeding from his mouth like open wounds, every one slicing deeper into his interior. He couldn't make himself stop shaking, it was a body function that just wouldn't stop, he clamped a frosted hand over his mouth and breathed in a tad bit warmer air, heated by the blood pumping slowly in his hand.

He was in a coat closet, or what he assumed to be a coat closet. It was so small that he could brush both sides of the walls with his shoulders when standing parallel to the door, and he could feel different fabrics pushing around him from every direction. Iggy was crouched down next to him, rattled breaths erupting from his diaphragm.

" Ig-" Fang gulped as the freezing air encrusted his mouth and once again threw his hand over it. Iggy quickly glanced up at Fang and then threw his hand up in the air signaling a wait. Fang shuddered and then knelt down beside the blind mutant, trying to mask his shivers with an overlarge parka that had fallen to the ground.

For several moments their was no movement except for the occasional rattle of shivering bodies, Iggy was the first to break the silence, speaking resolutely from the folds of an anorak.

" It reached it's peak about a minute ago," It was a simply sentence but it took Iggy a great effort and he doubled over, coughing a bit of mucus and blood onto the floor.

" We have to find the others," Fang had a determined look about his face and breathed in deeply from the palm of his hand before rising unsteadily and cramming on a parka, following suit was the trembling Iggy.

Wasting no time, Fang found the doorknob, using a scarf that had been scattered along the shelves and with an effort feeling like pushing a train, heaved.

W

Crackling in the night was the difference between light and dark. The fluctuating pattern of the moon dancing around tails that whipped through the air as if nothing such as limits occurred in the world. Strong and skillful they wove through the clouds and ripped through the wisps with jaws that snapped at the long lost tenders of warmth in the atmosphere.

Below them were the creatures of the ground, large with heavy hoofs, with coats of armored flesh and bone. Their enormous bodies buckled with the strength to move, horns protruding like ancient rhinoceros from their front. Dorsal fins the size of sailboats erupted from the glacier crested ocean, coloring the bleak landscape with crowns of black, blue, red, yellow and green. A howl leapt from the air and laced its way with vigor through out the landscape, and with the cry the army was bounded as a single organism with one purpose in mind; the end of the world.

W

I felt nothing for a long time, my arms felt like they were sticks of wood, something unattached to my body. My eyelids were as heavy as concrete walls and with an excruciating pain I pulled them open, I felt eyelashes pull out and some hung down in front of my vision. They had been frozen together by blood that had leaked from a gash in my head, that too was now crystallized. I tried to turn my head and then heard a loud _crack!__**( AN****: Sorry for interrupting here people, but I had to tell you to not crack your neck, it could kill you or cause a stroke, I am dead serious about this, so don't do it!) **I winced slightly and squeezed my eyes shut for a second before propping them up again. __Angel. _

Oh God! Where was she? I still could barely move and felt something cutting sharply into my back, gritting my teeth I wriggled slightly, pressing my lips together as I heard a tear of fabric and flesh. I could now move my legs and tried to get up, only to buckle under an unbearably long gash in my calf. Swearing under my breath, I looked around for Angel, but I was spotted first.

" Max!" Something hurled into me, and two hands grasped me from behind. I didn't have to turn to see who it was.

" Angel where were you? You okay?" I found it easier to breathe, the stinging sensation was slowly unraveling from my lungs.

" You landed on me and then passed out and I got out from under you; I was going to find Fang," she sounded matter of fact, but I heard her fearful undertone.

" Good," I said sounding skeptical of Fang being in a nice cozy room with the rest of the flock ready to hand out hot chocolate. " Lets get out of here." I shook heavily with the effort to get up and then supported myself on the ice incrusted wall. I took a last look out of my momentary crypt and let a shiver engulf my spine as claustrophobia overcame me. I turned to Angel and gave her a hopeful smile, before staggering with the skills of a drunkard out the door and into the rawness of the elements.

W

Nudge felt like crap. She had leapt at the last second after Iggy and Fang, and ended up somewhere in a hallway and in a bedroom. The cold had somewhat left her body, but it had leeched her of any strength that she possessed. She felt as weak as a newborn child and shivered so hard it became a constant movement, like a murmur of her skin. She moved with painful slowness to the handle of her gun, trying to crack her lips into movement. She clutched the handle of her gun harder, breathing as evenly as possible. The cold metal forced awareness like a bubbling drug into her veins. She opened her eye's and stumbled into a somewhat upright position. Grasping the wall siding, she managed to stand and forced herself to breath, and then listened intently for any movement or anything. She didn't hear anything and a colorful array of swear words burst into her minds eye. She needed to see the havoc that the frost had wreaked on the city.

Staggering horribly she managed to move to the outside and braced herself as cold worked itself around her body. The blood was pumping furiously from her heart and into her extremities, and with a surge she felt her strength returning. With the grace of a cat she leapt into the sky and forced her wings up with a furious crack, that made all her muscles protest in agony. She landed with a thud on the top of the building and gulped at the obscenity before her.

The buildings looked like stacks of cards that had fluttered to the ground with the gentle blow of a wind. _The flock_, she thought, scrunching up her face and then caught a slight bit of movement. She hit the building and curled up tightly to the edge. They moved with a predators stance and were heading avidly towards a small patch behind a dumpster, her heart stopped as she saw the motionless figure of Gazzy, curled into a ball behind it. She clutched the top of the building harder. She had to get Gazzy out of there. The Erasers were white and bristling with muscles on every visible surface, their eye's glazed over in blood lust. Ten more seconds and they would discover where Gazzy had hidden. She pulled the gun from it's holster, nine, she grabbed the other, eight, she loaded the first, six, she loaded the other, four, she crouched over the lip of the roof, two, one, zero. She leapt. The sound of bullets merged with the yells of discover. She landed with a grunt onto one of the Erasers, then snapped a kick to tailbone of another. Dodging a blow to the back of her head, she snapped a collarbone and let a rip of bullets hail from her gun. She felt a hairy paw cuff her on the head and went with the blow, turning it into a hard round kick to the stomach. The Eraser merely stumbled and grabbed her leg, swinging her into a wall.

Lights danced across her eye's and she let out a hiss of pain, but she wasn't finished yet. She raised her gun and shot him dead, hearing the satisfying smack of bullet on bone. Now it was time to get Gazzy out of there.

She ignored the pain with a slight adjustment of the pack on her back, and slowly bent over each Eraser and, with a nod that they were in fact dead, turned herself back to Gazzy.

He was freezing and barely conscious, but conscious all the same. " Gazzy," she said in a whisper and prodded him with the cold butt of her gun. He moaned and she rubbed his shoulder. " Gazzy get up!" This was said more urgently, and this time he responded and moved trying to get up.

She hoisted him up and started to stagger towards where she had last seen Max, when a sudden sharp smack of pavement, followed by the quick concession of another rose her attention. She whipped around just in time to see Fang and Iggy disappear behind a building.

Something eerie gripped her telling her not to move. Why had they just passed her? She didn't let Gazzy go and called in a small voice, tightening a hand on her gun. " Fang… Iggy…!" Nobody answered and the footsteps were gone. She spun her head around, in time to see two more figures standing stock still. The only difference was that these were heading in her direction.

W

In the distance I saw two scuffled characters, walking with a gentle lope towards us, as they neared I saw a braid swinging silently in the frozen air and the slight stagger of Gazzy's walk . They looked war torn, blood flowing freely from tears in their precious faces and a solemn look permanently etched on their lips. Angel yelped with joy and threw herself into Gazzy, who patted his sisters head affectionately, while giving me a sorrowful look, I looked away and bit my lip. It was Nudge who broke the silence, literally holding herself to keep from shivering.

" Max, Fang and Iggy disappeared." Nobody voiced their disappointment, but it was apparent on Angels stricken face. " One moment we saw them and then they were gone," she said nothing for a moment, but tilted her head and pulled a gun from a belt loop on her waist. " Angel, where?" She mouthed and Angel tensed for a moment, then terror overcame her face.

I looked around us, we were in some sort of square surrounded by snow topped buildings, I think we were standing on a frozen lake. I felt the hairs raise with an aura of suspicion on the back of my neck. " We have company," I turned facing opposite Nudge and we formed a square back to back. Guns in hand, loaded and cocked at the innocent snow crests, that with a surge of blackness, lost their virginity.

I distinctly heard Gazzy mutter, " God doesn't like us," and I gave a hollow laugh before pulling the trigger.

_**AN: I will tell you once and I hope that you will kindly listen to me, but chances are, you will blatantly ignore this and proceed to the next chapter ( of course you could also say the oh-so-familiar, Screw this, and decide to read something else).. Anyway here's the one word that seems to make everyone back away with their garlic necklaces bold on their necks; REVIEW!! Oh and thank you to those that did review, you are sublime race **__**( and**__** to those who didn't review, just thank you for reading, glad people like it) **_

___**Flamingflie**_


	6. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: So you folks wanna know something (it's a secret really) I don't own Maximum Ride (amazing, I know)._

**Chapter Five: Blood is thinner when your veins are made of glass. **

_" Chairs rolling and Tables toppled, _

_hands armed with broken bottles, _

_standing no chance to win, _

_but were not running, were not running" Rise Against ( Behind Closed Doors) _

" Where the heck are we?" Iggy's voice echoed unnecessarily around the edges, the framework the buildings had been supplied with.

" Everywhere," he heard the giggling of a distant female, from behind him, but there was no footsteps, no depth perceptions of time and space. He felt Fang stiffen besides him and then a vibrating of the asphalt around him.

" Fang?-" But Fang wasn't listening, he was watching 'her'.

She was small, no taller than Angel, a small lubricant figure wading in and out of existence. She giggled again, then walked towards them, each footstep setting the air into spasms around them. She had a smile pasted to her face, but not a smile any sane person would wear, and above it, her eye's glistened as black as coal in an ebony orb.

" You are at the edge of the universe," She gestured around them, the broken down buildings crackling with an odd anticipation, a neon sign flickering from life to death a million times a second. " Or nearing it anyway." She giggled again, regarding them as a child's plaything, toying and preying on their wary nerves.

" Can I.. Can I see you?" Iggy spoke from dry lips, he felt hot for some strange reason, like something warm was trickling down his back.

" No, I'm just a figment of your imagination, well, no, that's not right," She settled herself down on the ground and folded her legs under her, arranging the white dress around her small delicate knees. " I am part of this place."

" The end of the universe?" Iggy said, now wearing a look of confusion.

" Right, I am this place," she pointed over to the neon sign and both Fang and Iggy looked over at it. " Can you read it?"

" No," Fang was frustrated and he swept a glance around them. Something was shifting, there was only one building now, the others had shifted and faded, only a void stretched, like a withered scar across the horizon, leaving them on the small island that the girl settled upon.

" Look again," her eye's lit with something and disappeared again.

" Look for the next beginning," Iggy read and then turned towards the girl in horror. " Am I dead?"

" Bingo," she said distantly looking across the void, her hands cradled in her lap.

" What about the flock?" Fang muttered, his eye's glowing blue in the moonlight, or was it moonlight? He couldn't tell.

" What about them?" the girl said placidly, a nonexistent wind hitting the smooth top of her bald head and she shivered quietly.

" They need us, they need-"

" Or do you need them?" She laughed softly and straightened her neck, looking up to the emptiness of the sky.

" Of course we need them!" Fang snarled and the small girl smiled and nodded knowingly.

" Then go get them."

" But, were dead."

" Define dead." When none of them answered she continued. " Actually your mind is just temporarily 'dead', caused by too much occupancy in your brain at the same time." The girl seemed older now, like something had grown out of her skin, shaping her body, changing her face and elongating her small features. " I'm here, not to distract you, but to show you the way." She didn't act regal and her face showed a hint of pain, of something maybe linked with resentment, but she carried on. " You are Fang and Iggy, if I have done this procedure correctly right?"

Fang and Iggy nodded, but they were not mute and certainly didn't like the authority that the woman commanded. " And who are you then? What's going on? What happened before?"

" Oh I'm so sorry for forgetting my manners," she said coolly yet sharply and faced them straight on, the bare patch on her skull now surrounded by the tendrils of small jutting hairs, her arms were hidden in the folds of a robe that melted onto her form. " My name to you is no importance, but just to help your memory, it's Flight. You are in a place I created myself and earlier you were observing some of my, ummm, extra curricular activities that I participated in."

" Your like Angel aren't you?" Iggy muttered.

" More advanced, but basically, yes."

" And you created this?"

" The ground you stand on is of my own creation," she curtly nodded and continued briskly. " Okay I really don't have much more time." She took a deep breath and closed her eye's, her right hand moved and snapped her fingers, the sound shook the ground like a sonic boom and the ground and air seemed to shatter around them. " Look around you, what do you see?"

" Death," Fang's face turned white as the color drained from his face, around him like a panorama picture was a battle scene, bodies of erasers and humans splayed across the ground like slaughtered pigs.

" Yes," she said it so softly that he barely heard it. " Battles stand in our future, horrible battles, but know that we'll be there for you."

" There's more of you?" Iggy said, sounding astounded.

She nodded but continued, " Yes but that's not the reason I came here, we, meaning the rest of my team, can look after this continent, but to the North things are brewing." She shook, " A battle must be fought at the edge of Canada, nearing the top of the world."

" We have to lead the army?"

" No," she took a deep breath and looked Fang in the eyes, but he didn't shrink back. " You are the army." And then everything exploded as if it had been held together with a single strand and they found themselves somewhere deep in an abandoned alleyway.

**W**

**Max's POV ( Oh and just so you know this is happening simultaneously) **

The time freezes; once in a great ions of times, every moment slowing to a standstill while your heart beats to a stop and the air around you falls with a crashing sound to the floor. Metallic shells hum and tendrils of gray leech from them in this frozen moment, the air dashed to pieces in front of them and twisted savagely before flung into a coiling trail behind them. This would be one of those moments. And then everything snapped into fast play, I hit the ground with my head spinning.

_Smack! _The combination of the chilly atmosphere and the sudden haste that I had thrown myself viciously to the ground hit me like a dull sheet of iron. I caught a breath and thrashed on the spot and hastened behind a short fountain head, before hearing the crackling of bullets wail into the other side of the great marble statue.

I hated these tedious maneuvers, where your life hangs in the balance of whether your arm is a centimeter to the left or not. I fired a quick round and then ducked again under the statue, catching a quick glance of Nudge swirling in unpredictable patterns in the air, devising a strange combination of aerodynamics and flawless speed. I let myself have a smile of pride and scouted for the other two.

Angel had two Erasers caught in a fierce battle, deadly claws raking the others face, drawing tendrils of blood onto the pure white snow. She had a grimace set deep in her face, as well as a look of deep and involving concentration. Total, was by her side, barking with what he called a 'menacing growl' at the attackers.

Gazzy on the other hand, ducked rationally behind something that I could only configure as an old motorcycle turned on it's side, cackling like a maniac. Needless to say, there were two less Erasers on this friendly planet earth.

I looked past my somewhat safe bearing, through the small gap etched in the side of the marble sculpture and made a quick estimate of the number of Erasers left. Three hovered, like mother hen over their unruly group of chicks, in the far right, armed with two machine guns and a nasty set of jaws. The other four were more or less scattered, devising ways to confiscate the remains of Gazzy's purchase and head off Angels little mind game.

I thrust my gun into my pants ( okay, not the best place to keep them, but I don't really have time for that right now). I gave my wings a quick thrust out and heaved as gravity attempted to flatten me… I won.

I pumped on the speed and joined Nudge in her aerobatic number, complete with dives and twists as the bullets hailed from below. Time to change tactics.

I pulled into a steep dive after making a complex twirl and aimed at one of the gunman, of course, when your going 200 miles per hour and hurtling straight at someone at may freak them out a little, just for the FYI.

He lunged for his gun, snout streaming an all too familiar mixture of saliva and mucus. I pummeled directly into his stomach feet first, sending both of us crashing into a wall that classified as relic. Dust clouded from the impact and I heard a sickening crack, as I used the full grown Eraser as a cushion, he was dead on contact with the wall.

I ignored the overwhelming urge to throw up, or even retain some shred of humanitarian sadness, and stood shakily to my feet. The Erasers in front of me hesitated, but being used to the whole 'flying kid' thing, they were quick to recuperate, dodging my first cycle of attacks the instant they were designed.

I threw a punch at the muzzle of one, but the other grabbed my hand and attempted to give me a crushing bear hug, before I slammed the heel of my foot into his shin, hearing a satisfying crack, before I was released.

I sprung out and punched him square in the nose, before swinging around and using a great force and momentum to kick the other in the stomach; freaking hard. He let out a groan of pain, but slashed out, catching part of my thigh with his claws, I yelped and dropped to my hands and swung my legs around and knocked him off his feet. In that same instant, I clambered over the bottom portion of his body and rammed my elbow into his nose, brutal, I know, but hey, what works, works.

Now, might I remind you, these aren't little puppy dogs, these are brutal beasts that will stop at nothing to kill you, and are also very difficult to hurt or maim. The Eraser I just smashed in the face began to give me a severe flogging; smacking me hard on the jaw and pummeling my side with his head. I sucked in the pain like oxygen and dealt a series of my own punches, he dogged the first one, but was the receiver of a punch upside the head and a kick in the groin. I smacked my hands over his ears and he screamed and fell into a pile of agony.

I half walked, half limped, back to my savior; the marble statue and then leapt into the air and splayed my wings open, spitting out a glob of blood before I croaked. " U and A guys!" I saw Gazzy hurl a bomb from his pocket at some of the last stragglers before taking to the air himself and we plunged into the heart of the city with frantic wing beats in the cold air.

My muscles ached with exhaustion and my heart was skittering at an advanced pattern, but we flew for a good twelve minutes, weaving through the outskirts of the town, loosing any trackers that had half heartedly delved into our trail.

There was still no sign of Fang and Iggy.

" Guys, land here, were going to die of hypothermia if we go on like this," I called over my shoulder and saw Nudge nod faintly.

We ascended tightly and directly into a small comfortable perch on the top of a broken down hotel; a lighted sign flashing Holiday Inn, hazardously above us. Feeling like a recently worked on patchwork quilt I confronted Nudge, with weariness apparent on her young face.

" Nudge? Can you heal anyone?" She nodded.

" I can try, it was just a spur of the moment kind of thing, but I think I can do it again," she stepped over to Angel and examined her. " Angel anything that needs healing?" I smiled to myself and ruefully stroked the tips of one of her wings while she bent over Angel.

" Max?" I sighed, knowing this was coming.

" Yes Gazzy?"

" Umm… Iggy and Fang-"

" I know," I said softly, aware of the fact that Nudge and Angel were both staring intently at me, expecting a well rounded answer, expecting me to know what to do. Even Total trotted over and set his small little Scottish-like butt down on the ground next to Gazzy.

" Don't worry, they'll find us." I tried to convince myself I was right and told Nudge to work on Gazzy next, and then see if she could attempt to heal herself.

In the meantime, I salvaged anything that I could possibly find that would do as firewood. Tearing the limbs of some tables on the lower level and piling it into a high stack on the roof, Total watching wordlessly, his tiny paws wound beneath him and his tongue protruding slightly from his lips.

" Gazzy? Can you light this for me?" Gazzy knelt down at the base and struck a match from a box someone deep in the lining of his jacket.

" Max, do you think this is safe, you know with all the Erasers out and everything?" Nudge looked at me and I sighed, I didn't like getting into the whole blood and guts scene in front of the kids, but I couldn't lie.

" No, but I really can't think of anything else…. Hey, wait a sec, Angel can you find them anywhere?" She shook her head and I quickly hid my crestfallen appearance.

" It's like they disappeared." The fire consumed the logs quickly and as it ate the wood, the silence grew, lengthened by the flickering lights.

I watched the twisting coils of red and orange dance with each other and couldn't help think about the two soldiers; my brothers, that were out there somewhere in this hated cold. " Don't worry, you'll be alright," I said under my breath. " I know you will."

W

Fang was perched high on a low rise, his black parka open to the blistering cold, but he really didn't mind, and really couldn't feel it anyway, his mind was somewhere else, somewhere in the night sky.

" Fang? Any sight of them yet?" Iggy waved a hand briefly in front of Fangs eyes and for a moment Fang wondered how the blind kid new that he was staring blankly at nothing in particular, but shrugged it off.

" No, but Max will set a fire when it's dark enough out," he looked out at the sky and could see the sun just shrinking in the distance, only a fifth of the orb still visible.

" Who was that flight girl any-way?" Iggy asked, yawning loudly and sat down with a muffled plop next to Fang.

" Don't know," Fang crumpled up a wrapper of a candy bar they'd hoisted from a nearby vending machine. " But whatever or whoever she is, said that something's brewing up in that northern quarter."

" Do you think it's colder up there?" Iggy didn't sound pleased at this fact and he felt Fang shrug beside him.

" It can only get so cold before it starts killing off everything right?" He took another bite out of a snickers bar and munched loudly for a second, before swallowing with just as much noise.

" I guess," Iggy didn't sound sure, but either Fang just didn't notice, or frankly didn't care. He finished the Snickers and started on another.

" Hey Ig?" He paused for a moment and Iggy nodded and cocked his head in a listening fashion. " Do you think the others are all right?"

Iggy didn't answer for awhile and then nodded again, " they're strong Fang. The great Maximum Ride killed by a frost?" He laughed, but Fang could tell it was uneasy laughter. " And Nudge and Angel and Gasman… Max will look after them right?"

" Yeah, she will." Fang took another bite out of his Snickers and then Iggy heard his feet scrape against the concrete as he stood up. " Looks like were about to find out. Bonfire to the left Ig."

And they unfurled the wings and took off into the night.

W

The darkness settled over everything like a blanket, lighter and somewhat more expansive with the snow.

" Did they get the message?" Keria asked, taking her time to navigate around Render and Dew, curled up next to each other under a thick fleecy blanket.

" Yeah," Flight had her hand on her temple and rubbed it for a few moments and then let her palm drop to her side. " How long?"

" Raid and Pink went to find out," Keria said softly. " I'm worried, everything's coming so fast and when it hits, everything will die Flight."

" Shhhh," Flight turned to look at the sleeping forms of the two eleven year olds. " At least we can give hope to our future Keria."

" I don't want to die though," she looked angry at herself for admitting this and she slumped down on the flickering floor of the cave, letting her thick hair stick in a mat to the damp wall. Flight sighed and got up and sat next her, rubbing the crown of her hair, maybe an affection a real mother would use, Flight wasn't sure.

" No one wants to die," she said softly and Keria nodded, but said nothing, eye's still fixed on the wall opposite them, the russet streaks like massive amount of scar tissue.

They sat in an comfortable silence for a long time, until Keria fell into a half sleep, her eyelids twitching slightly at any sound.

" Keria? Flight?" Keria jumped and Flight rose silently and gathered a blanket around her shoulders before going towards the entrance of the cave, the distant roar of thunder rattling the flashlights batteries in it's interior.

" What is it Raid? Where's the others?"

" Here!" Said a muffled voice as a mangy group of mutants appeared from behind a larger drift. Pink, Raid, Nicky and Rain's eye's moving like pinpricks towards her flashlight.

" What's going on?" Keria said, emerging from behind flight and Nicky looked down at the ground.

" We have two days to prepare." Pink shook her short black hair, relieving it of a set of perfectly carved icicles. Then sat heavily down beside a small fire in the corner and continued while helping herself to a boiling mug of water. " We have a group of Erasers heading this way and if we head them off," she smacked her lips on the rim of the chipped cup. " We gain an upper hand."

Keria and Flight exchanged a glance but said nothing.

" Do you want to wake up Dew and Render?" Rain said suddenly, glancing at the sprawling form of her little sister and Nicky nodded.

" I would rather die with knowing, than live with ignorance!" Quoted Pink's voice and Rain rolled her eyes and proceeded to shake Dew and Render, who both awakened in a sort of fatigue like stupor.

" Was going on?" Render said, sounding like he had drank about a quart of whiskey and Nicky chuckled silently in the corner.

" Two days from now; battle." Raid was now drinking a mug of water and stated the sentence quite briefly, regarding Renders saucer eye's with an amused expression and raised eyebrow.

" Guess we don't waste time, where are the brothers," Render asked and Pink snorted.

" You mean my 'rescuer'," one of the brothers had felt rather attracted to Pink and she had taken it badly, not only did she hate when people spoke to her intimately, she hated the fact that somebody had dared approach her with that kind of request.

" Yeah, whatever, them," Render clarified and Raid answered, swilling water in his mouth before swallowing.

" They'll be meeting us here tomorrow." He looked over the top of Renders head and locked eye's with Keria, " That will truly be when the real battle begins." He said softly and then sat down heavily on the ground.

Nobody spoke for awhile, save for Flights constant nattering of " get to sleep you two!" or " Put out the fire." Soon the only two left awake were Keria an Raid, the appointed night watchmen, sitting next to each other regarding the outside world, with something of excitement and fear.

" The worlds falling apart," Raid said suddenly and Keria nodded her throat dry. " We can't hold it together."

" Flight reckons we should try," she croaked, but dread crept into her voice and Raid looked at her, alarmed of her fear, but he didn't say anything, just reached out and rubbed the crown of her head.

" Flight knows it's our only choice too, we can't just sit back an watch as the world dies."

" No, we can't." But she didn't sound sure of herself and the thought still haunted her early into the morning.

_**AN: Okay Guys I made that one longer for you, for not updating in a long, long while. So tell what you think and REVIEW ( I want 5, but wants and needs differ, otherwise this world wouldn't go round) so thanks for reviewing, all you lovely folks!!! You amaze me!!!! **_

_** FlamingFlie**_

_**( Okay here is how to clear up the first part, as Kgirl311 put it " They weren't actually physically at the edge of the universe but their mind was," eloquently put Kgirl311. The 'end of the universe' is a fabric time rip if you may, it's a sort of limbo that was created by Flight ( from that other flock in chapter 2 and at the end of this one) she uses it to communicate with people across long distances and the reason that she was childlike in the beginning is because she hasn't perfected her skills yet and transforms to past and present at random intervals at time) **_


	7. Author Note

Sorry Guys, I haven't updated with a new chapter, just re-adjusted all my other chapters, it took some time to go through them all, but I should get a new one out in a couple of days tops. After next week everything will settle down a bit ( My sport ends next week and I will have time).

Flamingflie

Ps. Thanks for all the reviews and sorry for my slowness!!


	8. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own winged children with overly large egos… this is probably due to the fact that my name is not James Patterson… why is my name not James Patterson you ask? First off, I am not named some silly name that looks like it's plural, and I don't have a last name that reminds me quite blatantly of the sentence 'Pat your son', and I am not some kind of person that pats random peoples sons. _

**Chapter Six: Tired of fighting, but screaming for violence**

_"Simply because you can breathe doesn't mean your alive or that you really lived, this life has taken its toll, she doesn't know how much more she can give. But here at the top of the world where I raise my hands and I clench my fists." Black Masks & Gasoline by Rise Against _

I spotted two overlarge birds, held aloft by two giant wings that sliced through the air like serrated knives, and felt anger surge like a fire through the tips of my toes to the top of my head, then it dissipated in a thick and tangible relief.

" Fang! Iggy!!" Nudge squealed, dropping her pretense as a concrete block and leapt the four feet to the edge of the building in a single bound.

" Glad to see someone missed us," Iggy managed before Nudge, Gazzy and Angel tackled him into a quick hug and I laughed uneasily, aware of the amount of noise that we had just caused, but glad to see them back and safe.

" What happened?" Nudge was the first to pull back and looked up with wide eyes at Iggy, then turning to Fang. " Did you guys meet any Erasers?"

" Did you guys?" Iggy's sightless eye's squinted in confusion.

She nodded, but verbally said yes, before continuing. " It was a battlefield down there." Nudge shivered and I saw Iggy tense for a second.

" Do any of you guys have winter coats?"

" No," I replied and then narrowed my eyes, taking in his new outfit, and fingering my own frayed windbreaker, it was rather thin and worn through in certain places. " Where'd you get yours?"

" Closet," Iggy said, slipping his off his broad shoulders and letting it fall into his hands. " I'm fine now though, Angel, you cold?"

Angel shook her head, but shivered visibly and Iggy and Gazzy led her back to the fire, I watched Iggy settle the little ones for a moment before whirling on Fang, his silence, not necessarily unusual, but I still wanted answers.

" Fang, what happened?" He threw a quick glance in the direction of Angel and Gazzy, preoccupied with a handful of sausages that Iggy had miraculously produced from his backpack.

" Well that's a nice hello," he said skeptically and then narrowed his eye's in a business like matter. " We met someone."

" Who?"

" She said her name was Flight and that we had to host a battle at the top of the world." I raised my eyebrows and frowned.

" You mean as in Canada or Artic Circle?"

" Canada," he studied me for a moment and then looked over at Iggy who was just joined us.

" Little one's down?" I asked and he nodded solemnly.

" You can't keep them in the dark forever Max," Nudge said sitting down by Iggy's feet and eating a snickers bar that he handed her.

" Yeah, but sometimes it's better not knowing," I quietly answered and she shrugged.

" Not when everything falls on you at once; their going to know eventually."

" I'll tell them in the morning-"

" What am I missing?" Total bounded over to us and lay down next to Nudge and she stroked his head with shaking cold fingers.

" Yeah, Fang continue," Nudge fingered her gun with her hand for a moment and then shoved a snickers wrapper into her pocket; excepting a package of twizzlers as Iggy wordless handed it down to her.

" I think we passed out," Fang started looking a bit confused. " We ended up in on the edge of this huge cliff-"

" No, I thought we were on an island raised way above the ground," Iggy interrupted.

" Your blind Iggy!" Nudge snapped, if she saw the crease of pain on his brow she ignored it.

" It was a place made in your mind," he snapped back and then his tone softened considerably. " The girl, Flight, is like Angel, except older and has mastered her powers. She created the place in which she brought us, she told us that there were other mutants and that they were going to battle in the united states and that we had to control the northern portion of the planet, which is the most northern part of Canada."

" Who exactly is Flight?" I asked doubtfully and Fang answered shaking his head.

" We don't know, she sounded urgent though."

" Do you think we should trust her?" Nudge said looking up with round eye's.

" No," Iggy took a twizzler from Nudge and ate it before continuing. " We don't know her and those scientists will do anything to try and get a fix on our position."

" If they were trying to get our position, they'd have to know it in the first place to send the message," I replied hastily, watching Fang's eyes look out over the city.

" What should we do then?" Nudge said dryly, "keep on trying to find these mutants? Max the truth is that were just wasting time, we have no idea where to look." I bit my lip and didn't answer.

" Then let's go," Iggy said simply and Nudge looked over at him quizzically as I nodded.

" That's what I was thinking," I agreed, " It's the only lead that we have."

" Hey Iggy?" Fang's voice startled us, " what was with those words, 'look for the next beginning?'"

" What words?"

" Oh that," Iggy completely ignored me and shrugged. " Nothing I guess, it was probably one of her memories or something-"

" What words?" I repeated louder and Fang sighed and looked over at me, meeting my gaze.

" At first Flight tried to convince us that we were dead, she told us to read the words on the building by us and that's what it said."

Why? I wondered silently, but didn't voice anything, shivering slightly from the cold. " Hmmm.. I don't know guys, but I think that we should get some sleep, We'll leave first thing in the morning." I rolled my shoulders hearing one of them crack loudly before appointing night watchmen. " Iggy, you got first watch tonight, Fang help me round up some blankets from the floors beneath us."

I leapt off the roof throwing my wings out and catching the freezing air on my feathers, I drifted to a balcony below and landed with a gentle thud, I felt Fang land behind me.

" Fang you want to?" I asked and he replied sarcastically, " you may have the honors."

I smashed the window with a well placed kick, fiddling with the lock on the other side, before swinging the window open and jumping easily into it's frame, my feet crunching on the glass.

" Fang check the closet," I said beginning to strip the sheets off of one of the beds and throwing the thicker blankets in a pile. I felt him brush past me and disappear behind the corner towards the bathroom.

After the mattresses were bare, I moved over towards the cabinets, shuddering at the large grooves roughly cut into the wood; ragged claw marks, dark stains running from some parts, giving a reminiscent gleam of life from the moon set high in the sky.

I reached up towards the knob, feeling it fill my hand entirely and the back of my neck prickled. Something in my head told me not to open the door, something told me to just leave it alone; but I'm Maximum Ride; I don't just leave things alone.

The interior of the cabinet was nothing to brag over; a thick wad of coats and shirts were hung up; with the least of care, holding remnants of dust and withered spiders. I prodded one of the coats, and when it didn't jump to life and eat me, I pulled it from the hanger.. The wire frame clattered limply to the ground as my hand froze on the wooden bar, my breath caught in my throat and ceased to exist for a moment.

The child was dead; the air smelled of it; wreaked of past life essence, I faintly wondered why I hadn't smelled it before. His limbs were curved unnaturally under him, his hands and fingers crookedly bent under the weight of his thighs. Serrated claw marks ran down his arms, a frozen patch of red marked the place where a bullet had entered, his unseeing eye's wide open, the fabric of life and reality ripped so callously away from them.

I didn't scream, I didn't even move, I locked my irises on the flaccid form and my hand shook on the wooden pole. A bubble of hate rose from the depths of me, a hate so vivid that it threatened to tear me apart, the coat left my hand and with a soft whoosh hit the ground.

" Max…Max..?" I dimly heard Fang's voice, my hearing, the entirety of my soul somewhere else. I didn't hear the footsteps, but felt a hand clutch a shoulder; I wasn't sure if it was mine or not.

" Ma-" The cabinet door closed abruptly and still my senses didn't return; I felt distantly dizzy, yet anger surged through my blood, pumping adrenaline through my veins like an injection.

" God Fang," my voice came out in a whisper, not one of fear, nor of confusion, of just being; of just sadness. " What have they done? What have they done?" My voice foamed with the acrid taste of acerbity and I sank to the ground leaning against the child's coffin, clutching my hands to my temples. Fang knelt down on his haunches next to me, his hand still on my shoulder.

" What have they done to deserve this Fang? Why is everything falling apart? How many more like him.. God, were probably sitting on a graveyard," I didn't cry, the shaking in my arms trickled away, leaving my skin quivering slightly. I stood up abruptly, rage rousing my words on, " I'm going to Canada first thing in the morning, I can't do nothing any longer, Nudge is right, I'm wasting time, It's time to tackle things head on." I looked over at Fang, my face rejuvenated by the fresh spasm of my opinions. A grim determined smile crept over my face, "whatever summoned us should see what they've invited to the party." Something intangible passed over Fang's face, a flicker that never lasted; a spike in the stone mask that covered his face. Then he frowned deeply, observing something past my vision outside the window. " Fang?" I questioned and he didn't answer, but turned to look at me; his eye's were gleaming from the cold.

" Max," he said after a couple of moments. " You know we just might be six kids, but sometimes six kids make all the difference."

" Your wrong Fang," he looked at me inquiringly and I gave him a knowing smile. " Were six _mutant _kids _with a dog_." And with that last sentence, I leapt out of the window and into the frigid, below zero air. I felt guilty of this movement, guilty of the heart that still beat in my heart, the lungs that still inflated in my ribcage; guilty that I had lived and he died.

I left Fang to take the blankets up to the flock; soaring on the rim of, unknown and uncertainty.

**W ( Hours Later that Night: Third Person) **

" Nudge," she heard a faded whisper and felt a hand gently prod her out of sleep, elevating her head slightly, she saw the reddish tufts of Iggy's hair, before slumping once again into a tightly curled ball on the hard dusty ground.

" My watch?" She said, making no effort to get up, and he nodded calmly on his knees.

" Yeah, you've got the last one."

Nudge had persisted on taking night watches until Max gave in, which was nearly a month ago. She now found the watches boorish and tedious hours of breathing silently and craning her neck muscles to the last of their strength; needless to say, she hated them, but for the sake of the flock, she was willing to endure.

She stood up, her head heavy from the lack of sleep in the past few days, but none the less, she took the position on a light marbled rock, near the dying embers of their fire. Iggy came and sat next to her.

Nudge wasn't one to quietly sit, with her arms folded over each other in a proper fashion. Instead she looked promptly over at Iggy and raised her eyebrows, " judging by the fact that you haven't gone to sleep already, you have a question for me." She tightened her hold on a blanket that surrounded her shoulders and stared directly at Iggy's unseeing eye's, feeling a quiver of dread of what he was going to say; she knew before it left his mouth.

" Nudge… you know… that new power you got? Could-"

" Iggy I can't," Nudge sent his stumbling sentence to the grave, and looked away from his face, knowing how far he had cast it to the ground. " Look, Iggy your blind," she let the words fall like stones on his body, but continued, a grimace on her face. " I'm not a doctor, I have no idea how the eye works. Yes, I healed Max, Gazzy and Angel… but Iggy this is over my head. I don't want to screw you up," she knew that these were the wrong words to use and bit her lip; hard, feeling blood thread its way through her mouth.

Iggy was silent for a moment and then spoke, clearly with frustration. " Can't you try?"

" No," she stated flatly and could tell that Iggy was highly agitated now.

" You don't know what it's like to be blind," he began in a deadly whisper that wound around Nudge's heart, making her wince. " You don't know how it feels to live in darkness, to see darkness constantly. To hear voices and not know what the owner looks like. I can't see the trees, I can't see the sky, God, I can't even see you!!.. And your telling me that there's a possibility that I can see again, and yet you won't try!!?" His whisper was spit at her like a hissing cat and she flinched, but didn't recoil in the least, but she could feel moisture pushing it's way beneath her eyelid, she drove it away.

" Iggy, I can't do it. I'm sorry I don't want to kill you alright? Now go to bed, you haven't slept for hours," she turned her back on him, grinding her butt loudly on the rock; to make sure that he heard.

He simply got up and walked away; she didn't follow.

**AN: Cross Country is Over! I can now update more frequently and life will be way easier ( we went to state, but I'm not going to rant about that) You guys gave me more reviews than I expected, Thank-you so much, I love when people review and hopefully the more I get the more of an impetus I will have to update. So, as always, REVIEW!!!! ( I would give my reviewers a gift, like a roll of toilet ****paper or something, but they'd probably be afraid if a stack of toilet paper came in the mail with a note that read thank-you in big bold letters on every sheet… other than that it would probably stain the inner bowl of the toilet… so I'll stick with a written general Thank-you to all of you and hope that you continue to read)**

**Oh and another thing, don't be modest; tell me any of your stories that you would like read; I will read them and review them if you want me too… so yeah, that's about it. I will try to update ASAP. Oh and thanks a ton to mergirl007 for all the help on the corrections for the earlier chapters. **

**Until next time-**

** Flamingflie**

**PS. I added something to clear up last chapter at the end of it ( so at the end of chapter five), and if your still confused PM me. Also sorry for the shortness of this chapter… I was going to make it long but thought.. NAH!! And ate some pork roast. **


	9. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything, including my clothes…. So maximum ride is farther away on my priority list. ( Hey did you guys notice that the titles of my chapters have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with my story?…. Yeah, I wasn't innovative enough apparently) _

**Chapter Seven: Turn, but never look back and keep your wings to the sky. **

_" Through the fence I see a ghost of a place that used to breath, you know it choked away the sun, but we still had food to eat, and now everyone is gone, to a place that won't be home, can they keep their families strong? Will they make it on their own?" We'll Be Here ( Goo Goo Dolls) _

She felt slack jawed with sleep and a bit hazy. The bitter wind swept under her collar; startling her curls, crusted over with a thin coating of sleep deprivation and musk. She hitched her hood up over her head, with a soft whoosh over her ears. Flexing her hands from the sudden movement under a layer of dark fabric, she felt the familiar tingling of the blood circulating throughout her fingertips.

Nudge rustled the wings on her aching back, worry stretching across the features of her face, screwing them into an unrecognizable film. _World, War, Erasers, Flock, Iggy… _the thoughts graced her silently and in turn. She bit her lip, remembering the conversation that had recently been conceived between them; the fighter and the sightless pyro. She chuckled in a sad way on the nicknames that she had bestowed, admitting a soft glaze of frost from beneath her nose.

Nothing was straight forward anymore, one key didn't unlock two doors. She replayed it in her head, her fingers tapping faster on her thigh as the sounds in her head rose to a peak, attempting to drown them out, but they only got louder. _You don't know what it's like to be blind. You don't know how it feels to live in darkness, to see darkness constantly. To hear voices and not know what the owner looks like. I can't see the trees, I can't see the sky, God, I can't even see you!!.. And your telling me that there's a possibility that I can see again, and yet you won't try!!?" _She felt despair creep into her heart and smother it slowly; she didn't push it away, but let it fester with her conscience.

In some ways she knew that she was so mean and so cruel to deny Iggy that, the ultimate gift that she could give him; sight, but she was afraid. She had healed Angel and Max, once, and she felt it tax her body, zap it of strength and pull heartily on the sinews of her muscles. The last time that she had attempted to heal Angel she had felt her tendons and ligaments go taunt and threaten to break. The more pain that she lessened, the more she began to unravel, and yet she was guilty. Because of her fear she was denying Iggy happiness,_ you don't know what it's like to be blind! _

_No I don't Ig, and I'm sorry, but I can't. _She thought bitterly, the bite of cold on her face welcoming because it reduced the internal pain. Her thoughts of self pity began to consume her, but this time she pushed them away. _I will not dwell in this freaking misery, _she thought looking over at the city protesting against the anger she held against herself and caught a glimpse of the distance through the strewn atmosphere of snow. Lights; the crackling cat calls of a fanning fire.

Her breath caught in her throat, but not in shock or fear, in curiosity. Nudge lifted herself from the concrete slab with difficulty and stiffly leaned over the metal railing surrounding the Holiday Inn. It was definitely light, probably a fire. She considered something for a moment, thankful for the distraction from her prior thought process.

Reaching a conclusion she reached down to her belt and slipped her gun comfortably into the palm of her hand. She could still feel the cold vibrating from her gun through the fabric coating her hand and she stumbled slightly on the stubble covering the rooftop walking hurriedly in the direction of the sleeping flock. _What else was out there? _A shiver swelled over her spine, vibrating her skin that puckered from the wounds inflicted on it from the course of time. She torpidly staggered and almost twisted her ankle, but raised her wings in a silent balance, cursing in her thoughts. _What creature disturbs our rut of hell?_

W ( Max's POV)

Cold. A heart wrenching cold was the first thing that I felt, yanking around me with a suffocating precision. I might have dreamed, but I don't remember, the line between reality and the fantasy of my imagination merges in such a way that I don't really see much of a difference between the two.

I jerked awake and in my intoxication of sudden alertness, I cracked my hand on Fang's forearm, waking him up instantly. We shot predictably to our feet in a matter of seconds, my eye's flicking to Nudge, who had prodded me from my sleep, with a quizzical look pasted to my face.

The whites of her eyes flashed from her shadowed face. " Max, someone's out there, I saw a fire through the storm." She said tenaciously pulling her hood over her snow dusted hair.

" Show me," I simply stated and she spun on her heel and disappeared behind a concrete block, Fang exchanged a curious glance with me before following the younger member of the flock.

The rest of the flock was fast asleep, I regarded them calmly for a moment. Angel and Gazzy snuggled up tightly against each other trying to keep warm; Iggy was facing away from me, his wings pulled in tightly to his spine. I frowned, then found Total curled up securely against Angel's stomach. They looked like perfectly carved wax figures, all of them barely moving except for the small movement of their chests up and down.

I sighed and with a hint of a smile on my face, turned away from them and twisted behind the concrete slab; slipping away from their views of peace fettering away.

Nudge and Fang stood with their shoulders hunched forward and their elbows touching the dingy railing. " What's up?" I said softly and Nudge wordlessly pointed eastward, her finger shaking before she withdrew it into the folds of her coat.

It was defiantly a fire or something to that effect. The pinprick didn't look very aggressive, but I had learned to fear the strange and stay wary of the normal.

" Do you think that it's those two that we left for dead a few hours ago?" I voiced and Fang nodded in a probable way.

" The escorts? Maybe," was all that he got in before Nudge burst through the seams.

" God, their going to attract Erasers by the groves, we can't just leave them there can we?" I shook my head and Fang shot me a look that screamed idiot.

" No, we won't leave them there Nudge," I pulled a glove off and tested the air. It was freezing cold, but had settled down a bit since the last endeavoring adventure it had plunged into. " The air's better."

" Max, the chances that Erasers have already found them is _extremely _likely," he stressed the word extremely and I rolled my eyes, not answering I observed the way that the snow fluctuated over the mass of the buildings, feeling the mounting pressure to make a decision, to decide where to go from here.

I let out the breath that I had been holding, " Nudge you and me are going to fly down there. Fang watch the flock."

" Max-"

" They need you Fang," I cut him off holding up my hand. " Look, me and Nudge can handle ourselves, okay? We'll be fine." Fang didn't say anything, which of course isn't unlike him, but his eyes were shooting me hostility sparks, to bad, I'll deal with it later.

" If any thing happens.." the horizon loomed in front of me and a big silhouette cast over the whole city; the water tower. " Meet at the water tower." My wings rustled as I let them flow away from the niche in my back. I leapt nimbly onto the balustrade, eyeing the fire before flipping my head around, " Nudge you ready?" Nudge jumped beside me and the rail rattled dangerously under our feet.

" Yeah," she said in a worried tone. " Hey Max we going to fly low or high?" I considered this for a moment. High would normally give us an eagle eye view, but tonight we wouldn't be able to see our hand in front of our face with all the snow. Not only that but with guns trained on us, the likely hood of getting seen and shot was much greater.

" Low!" I answered in a loud whisper and slipped off the slick piping, plummeting to the earth face first. I whipped my wings out and with an immense effort pushed down, rocketing through the streets at a hundred miles an hour. The turns were sharp and fast, and I angled myself expertly through metal contraptions and road blockage; hearing Nudges labored breathing behind me.

I veered to the left and felt something in the back of my head click; this was it. I thrust my wings out to their full capacity right before I hit the ground. Skidding and the soles of my feet, I stopped with a screeching sound behind a decrepit truck.

I took in a breath, and waited for a moment as Nudge settled down with little more grace, next to me. " Should be in two blocks," she hissed in my ear, slipping her guns into her hands. I nodded curtly.

" Okay, follow me," I whispered and scooted from behind the truck, eyeballing my surroundings. Nothing in particular looked to dangerous. The sidewalks and roads took on a frosty glaze, but nothing moved, nothing lived. I stood up slowly, my hand slid from the trucks hood into my pocket, feeling the smooth surface of a knife. Walking with deliberation, I motioned for Nudge to come without turning, feeling the presence of her breath right on my neck.

Our feet made a patter on the concrete as we turned the corner; and suddenly the noise of my feet didn't concern me in the least. Ahead of us a fire blazed, larger than the one that we had seen earlier; the snow was soaked red around us.

" Holy Shit-" Nudge swore, her lower jaw protruded and her mouth opened in disbelief; I simply shook with rage. Bodies were everywhere, ravaged bodies, fires consuming some of the flesh that just under hours ago been living human beings. I numbly walked through the battlefield and entered the ring in which the fire illuminated, something made me stop dead.

" Nudge… look…" Nudge looked over at a mangled body and then turned to me in horror, I closed my eyes. " Nudge look again." The image itself still burned in my cornea's, the mangled body of the male guide that had lead us here, and the rusty metal sign, scraped with metal nails in a ragged pattern; it read Catwalk.

" Catwalk," Nudge said brokenly and I nodded with my eyes still closed.

" Let's get out of here," I flung my lids open and turned away from the body, but not before catching a glimpse of something that made the skin prickle all over my body.

A blackened face in the alley, her teeth white in comparison to her dark complexion. The scraggly dread locks that I had seen hours before. Her voice slid like oil out of her pointed teeth. " Watch were you step. The innocent are dying." Her eyes illuminated in the immense darkness.

**W ( Third person, Obviously this is the other group of mutants. Time for this flock will be explained in the AN at the bottom) **

" So, who the heck are you guys?" Pink put it quite bluntly, but didn't really think that this could be helped. She took a sip of coffee that he had provided and looked expectantly from behind the rim of the cup.

" Umm… The Brothers, if that's what you wanted to know," a boy answered, looking flustered, he was cleaning weaponry on his crossed legs with a grimy rag. Both of them had just finished a practice course at assembling and dissembling a mass variety of arsenal and most of the weapons were either falling apart or in need of decontamination.

Pink sighed deeply from behind her cup. " That's not what I meant, like, what do you do?" The boy considered this for a moment and then shrugged half-heartedly.

" Well, in a nutshell, we try to show the Erasers hell," he nodded in satisfaction of his weapon and started on a smaller gun. " So far we haven't done anything that would go down in the history books as greatness, but where planning something big scale."

" Is that where we come in?" Pink asked quizzically and he nodded.

" Yup… hey could you hand me that wrench over there? Yeah the one behind that canister." He accepted the stick of metal from Pink and proceeded to unscrew a bolt hidden deep in the guns interior, talking at the same time. " Pete's going to be going over it shortly, but basically we planned a diversion that's aimed at taking out part of Eraser communication."

" So who's the distraction," Pink said raising her eyebrows and the boy set down the gun and took a rather wicked looking sword out of it's sheath and examined it for a moment before answering.

" We are, the brother's are going to be the distractions and you guys are in charge of incapacitating the communication in the main building. Raid said that you had a technological expert?"

" That would be me," she pointed out brightly. " Raid communication expert, Keria flight expert, Flight expert on advisement and planning, Nicky fighting techniques, yours truly is weapons and technological expert, and then Rain, Dew and Render are back ups and experts at patterned offensive and defensive flight maneuvers."

" Cool," he said clearly more impressed than he was showing. " We got a real mismatched group, seven of us, all from Salt Lake city, when it blew sky high we all escaped and I guess we've just stayed together since then. Pete's our leader, real rough kind of guy." His sword lay abandoned on the floor and his eyes were lively with remembrance. " He's a great hunter and was looking to get involved in the army after high school, to pay for college, never got there though, but I guess he got his dream of fighting for our country." He screwed his eyes up momentarily, " really saved my butt when I met him though, two Erasers had me down for the count and then he showed up and blasted them to bits, most of us are in debt to him."

" He the guy we met last night?" Pink asked and the boy nodded. " Yeah, he seemed kinda tough like, the one with the that long scar across his forehead right?"

" Yeah." Pink was silent for a moment remembering back to the night that the frost had broke. The face that flickered across the ponderous fire, the leader of the Brothers.

" So who are you then?" She asked throwing herself out of her thoughts.

" Names Wilson, but I just specialize in weapons," he laughed dryly. " Don't find much else to consume my time with." She nodded knowingly.

" Yeah, I know what you mean, although being trapped in the lab leaves little room for anything else, I'm Pink by the way," he held out his hand, and she looked at him reproachfully. When she didn't shake it, it lowered it slowly, a frown etching itself on his face.

" Why did you bust us out anyway?" She said after a long uncomfortable silence and he answered with a dull voice, cleaning his weapons again.

" I already told you, your needed."

" Yeah but how'd you find us? We don't exactly advertise ourselves." She chuckled and he looked at her sourly.

" Hacker found you, his real names Waldo, but if you call him that he just might kill you."

" It'd be a difficult thing to try," she said lightly getting up and stretching. " We'll I guess I'll see you tonight then Tom."

" It's Wilson," he said irritably and she shrugged.

" Whatever," Pink slunk out of the tent flap and into the nippy day. Wilson was slightly confused by the abruptness of her departure.

**W ( This would be hours later… so tonight in Other Mutant part) **

" We are going to be conducting a major attack on the enemy, dealing a much needed blow to the Eraser communication," Pete's voice rang crystal clear through the stagnant cavern all eye's focused on his hunched form. " The attack will start in 2.00 hours and we have to be prepared to wreak hell and avenge all those who have died. This is the night that we will show them what we are really made of, Tonight we are the fighters, we are the victors. Tonight we are not afraid to die, tonight we will change this war forever." This was greeted by a round of cheers, mainly supplied by the brothers. " So are you ready to here the plan!" A whoop brought out by Wilson echoed around the walls. " Flight?" Pete moved his hand to indicate that it was her turn to speak and she nodded at him.

" Okay listen up!" She yelled at the jeering crowd and they settled down slightly. " We are going to organize a diversion," she tried to speak louder than the crowd, her bald head gleaming from the fire light and her ruined body even more obvious from her clear separation from the crowd. " Pete leading the brothers is going to strike up a direct attack on the Eraser Armies, coming from the North and driving them south. Wilson and Luke, you are in charge of starting the volley off, setting land mines out and detonating as many grenades as humanly possible." Wilson and a taller boy with white blonde hair punched fists and grinned foolishly. " On the other end of the diversion is what the attention is going to be focused away from. I am going to be leading Keria and Pink into the main building of a facility 60 miles from the battle site. While the battle is raging the defenses will be lower than normal and there we are going to disable their communications, this communication center controls the communication throughout the whole Midwestern united states for the Erasers side. Raid is going to be in charge of communication for both Pete's team and mine." She took a deep breath. " So you ready!!" She shouted and was instantly encompassed with a mass of yells and cheers. In her opinion they were ready.

**AN: Sorry this is shorter than I intended originally. I also wanted to thank you for the reviews ( I was saddened that you guys didn't review as much as before, but ah well) but please if you haven't REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! My Goal is 55 by next chapter and I will try to update sooner the more reviews you get in. Thank you to everyone who did review though…. You make me a very happy Tahitian Nun. ( And sorry, this is kind of a filler chapter, the next one is planned to be really long and action packed… I might have to put it in two parts, but these two parts would be posted at the same time) **

** By the way the other flock ( with Flight at it's helm) is a day behind the original flock. So when It's daytime for them it's that same day but night in the original flocks time. The reason for this is just cuz I felt like it. **


	10. Chapter 8 part 1

_Disclaimer: I really don't want to own Maximum Ride, I don't have dreams of being old and rich... I have dreams of being young and poor. _

**Chapter Eight PART 1: Wrestling with the grip of insanity and not winning**

_"Would you go to war for me? Would you cry for the weak and die for the peace of men?" - The Fight, The Classic Crime _

**AN: ( wow, first time I put one at the top) Okay just a note, this chapter is going to have switches and lots of confusion of when things are happening, therefore I installed dates before each entry. **

**Somewhere Else ( Completely unrelated to the Flock, the Brothers or the OC Flock) we will call it the Facility: December 12****th**** 3:59 AM **

Laboriously he grabbed another rung and hefted his weight over the ledge, feeling the delicately knit skin on his hands rip slightly. With a grunt of pain, he sprawled in a heap on the landing at the top. _Get up! _he ground the thoughts into his mind and forced his arms to lift himself up. Ignoring the immense slabs of pain falling on his legs he began to run as silently as he could, his bare feet padding the cold metal of the facility.

Up ahead he saw the outlines of a door, or maybe it was a window. He neared it and saw the concrete glass in the window frame and with absolutely no thought sped up and crashed into it, his weight propelling him through the window and to the other side. His legs buckled as he hit the concrete ten feet below, he felt the smack of bone on rock. _Go! Go! Go! _His mind reeled with determination and he pushed off the ground, bloody feet leaving residue as they slapped the white cement, glass splinters imbedding deeper and deeper into the flesh, but he was past caring, past fear, past pain. Alarms rippled across the facility with the rapidness of a bird of prey, the searchlights scoured the ground and walls, and when the target was spotted, the bullets came like hail from above.

The gate, freedom, loomed in front of him, a circle of redemption. The boy felt nothing, the tufts of his hair lit with ferocity as the searchlights found his damaged form. _Keep going, Keep going, _his breaths formed the words and he leapt over a hedge, stumbled and smacked the ground before wrenching himself up and continuing his race.

He felt a sharp stab of pain in his calf, but with freedom so tangible the wound became intangible. Then he was upon the gate, he vaulted himself upon the metal and clung to it before scrambling up it as fast as he could. The razor barb wire curled across the top like a poisonous weed; he trampled it with his hands and feet, gouging holes and shredding his flesh like paper. He used his momentum to push off the top, he landed on the other side with a sickening crack and an exploding pain aspiring from his ankle.

"Not Now.. Don't give up on me now," he whispered aloud to his wasted body, and then with ragged breaths he ran as fast as he could, the rattling of bullets hitting the fence rising sparks into the air at his heels.

This was where the plan ended, he regarded the stony ground around him, his eye's flicking from one side to another, barely aware of the excruciating pain that his body held. He had no scheme, nowhere to go, he was hopelessly lost in a world he hardly knew.

The whine of a motor was approaching, the flap of a helicopter echoed along the skyline, time was running out, time was on the verge of collapsing.

Plan of action alluded him, he simply ran, the pain becoming more monumental in his mind; more than he had ever felt in his entire life.

A Chasm, his feet ceased to move and he stopped. Stretched before him was his hope smashed to pieces, a cut in the earth at least fifty yards across and miles long lingered in front of him, taunting him with his freedom.

The roar of the helicopter neared, the moan of an engine came still closer.

He looked up to the sky, the blackness showing no hint of pain, no sign of suffering. It wasn't fair, but then again life wasn't, and on the cusp of reality he jumped.

**The Facility December 12****th**** 4:38 AM**

" Did you know about the escape?"

" No."

" Don't lie," he spat across the table at the shackled girl and she growled in response. " You were there."

She choose to ignore him and rustled the cuffs on her hands, the skin rubbed raw from the roughly cut metal.

" What do you know about 347?" He said each word carefully, his eyes steely.

" Who the hell is that?" She boldly threw the words in his direction,; her eyes glued to his.

" You may know him as Scott Lewis," her eyes flicked away from his and to her wrists nervously, but she regained her composure in a matter of seconds.

" I know him," she replied vaguely and the man's brow creased.

" When did you see him last?"

" Couple of hours ago," she evenly matched his tone.

" What did he say to you?"

" You mean you don't have video camera's there?" She laughed before continuing. " Nothing."

" How long have you known him?"

" Awhile."

" Be more specific." She glared at him.

" Well you don't exactly make it easy to keep track of time. A week, a day, a month, it really doesn't make a difference, you're killing us either way," she snapped at him and he calmly replied.

" I'm sorry, we'll have one installed as soon as possible," he palpably checked his watch. " I'm afraid I'm nearly out of time," he quite pleasantly pulled a slim silver pistol from the interior of his coat. " How did he escape?" The girl looked at the gun and fear glazed her eyes slightly, but she didn't loose a beat in the conversation.

"You really beat around the bush didn't you?" The girl said snidely and a muscle twitched in the man's throat.

" How did he escape?" The man repeated and the girl rolled her eyes.

" I told you I didn't know about it," without warning a shot echoed throughout the soundproof room, and a dull thud of a bullet in flesh followed the aftershock. The girl didn't cry out in pain, but began gasping in it shortly after she spotted the red splotch spreading steadily throughout the cloth covering her arm.

" Now I'll ask you again," the man stood up and walked over to the moaning girl, the fear widely distributed in her corneas. " How did he escape?"

" Gonna shoot me again?" She croaked and, infuriated, the man leaned closer to her, examining her face.

" Don't make the mistake of believing that you are the only one being questioned." She laughed weakly.

" Are you implying that I'm expendable?"

" Maybe," he chuckled dryly and backed up slightly so his sweaty sour breath wasn't covering her face. " But that doesn't mean that your not useful for the time being." He looked over at her and a smile started to creep on his face, " you know you look like someone…." He leaned closer again, but this time took precision in measuring her features. " What's your n-" He never finished his sentence.

The girl rammed her head into his knocking him off balance and then knocked the gun out of his hands.

" Ella," she savagely smashed his head into the wall and ran her knee into his back. " Ella Martinez." She whispered darkly and before he could regain any amount of equilibrium she was out the door, her manacles dangling on the chair she had been chained to, a bent paperclip wrangled into the lock.

_**OC Flock: Nebraska December 12**__**th**__** 3:37 AM**_

_Sweat lingered on skin, it choked over the span of flesh, it trickled down in short spurts, wetting the fabric, lacing the material with salt. A hand came up and brushed a fresh stream from a forehead; they were two parts of the same body and moved with the trunk to crouch behind a slab of fresh concrete, a chest rose in rapid succession, fear tracing itself in the air around a mouth. A grim satisfaction settled over a face, a hand curved with malice reached over to a belt and pulled out a metal implement, the metal shown in a light; an inhuman light, reflecting on the ice whittled ground, glowing blue from the alteration of it's form. They moved, a singular they; their parts moving together, stiffness echoing in the walking form. _

_ She didn't feel anymore; she wasn't even human anymore, she felt as if she had traded feelings and emotions for actions and violence. She was detached. Her body just responded out of respect, her limbs moved because they had been programmed to. She weighed the bar in her hand numbly; feeling the smoothness of the metal but not the cold that surrounded her like an aura. _

_ Her head arced to the sky; she observed the moon with no reaction of its pearly phantasm beauty, just indifference scooped itself from her heart. She turned to look ahead of her, turning a battery operated microphone on from behind her ear. " Ready and in position," her voice didn't sound alive, it withered on her lips and tasted like ash in her mouth. _

_" Keria?" Raids voice crackled over the microphone. " But where are-" _

_" Ready and in position," she said in the same tone and then clicked the phone off. For a moment she __thought that she felt a stirring of pain deep in her gut, but she dismissed it; walking purposefully towards the end. _

**OC Flock: Nebraska December 11****th**** 11:49 PM **

" Good luck Keria," Keria turned to sound of the familiar voice, knowing who it would be before he came from below the rock buttress she was perched precariously on top of.

" Raid, what are you doing here?" She asked as he swooped up casually, his broad wingspan casting a shadow down on her face as he landed next to her.

" I already told you, wish you good luck." He said in a rather cheerful tone and she looked him over with raised eyebrows before returning her gaze to the encampment sprawled between the two rock faces.

" Raid?"

" Mmmmm?"

" Do you think that it will work?"

" What the attack?" He looked mildly surprised and she turned to him with concern written on her face.

" Yeah, I just don't like splitting us up," she clamped her teeth together and sucked on the inner part of her cheek nervously. " We've always done everything important together, the kids have always been with us, _you've_ always been with us. I don't like doing things alone."

" You're not going to be alone!" He claimed incredulously, " Flights our leader, and then theirs Pink, God, I'd hate to be on her enemy list-"

" It's not the same Raid," she said blatantly shaking her head, but otherwise remaining silent.

Raid let a loud breath escape his lips before placing a hand on Keria's shoulder. " Don't worry, everything will be fine," he traced his hand down her shoulder and to the center where her wings converged and stroked it lightly. " You'll be back before you know it."

They sat like that for a few moments, before Raid gently pulled himself into a standing position and Keria turned her face to watch him unfurl his wings. " See you afterwards!" He gave her a reassuring grin before jumping out off of the ledge and letting his feathers merge with the wind.

Keria watched him go, painting every stroke he took with her minds eye. She pushed the fear and foreboding encroaching upon her mind away, she felt the insecurity that normally integrated with her brain well upon her once again.

She pulled her knees to her chest, her wings fanning from the enormous slits cut into her jacket, watching his figure move gracefully in the distance. _Were going to be alright_. She told herself, " were going to be alright."

**OC Flock ( Night group; Flight, Keria and Pink) : Nebraska December 12****th**** 1:03 AM**

The airs were cold and not in the least inviting, but regardless of it Flight plunged headlong into the drifts, her wings cutting the path; leading them onto their goal.

" In position!" She heard Pink chirp into her mike and on the other end Raid sighed nervously, all of them were connected to each other by a thin wire mike stringing from their ear to a small padded mike in front of their mouth. The connection of course being a radio wave.

" Okay you guys ready for orders?" Flight spoke heavily into the mike and was answered with two quick yes's. " Keria, you here me?"

" Yeah Flight," they hadn't bothered with codenames, who would name themselves Flight anyway?

" Keria, you're Pink's backup, you're to fly directly behind Pink and cover her when she goes down to the facility, you copy?"

" I copy," she said after a hesitant moment and Flight nodded.

" Good, Pink you there?"

" Yep!"

" I'm flying directly in front of you and am going to be your first guard, whatever costs do what I say, you copy." Pink didn't answer and Flight bit her lip before yelling 'you copy' louder into the mike.

" Yeah, Yeah, I got you Flight, don't worry."

" Pink, don't do anything rash, were counting on you."

" I know Flight, don't worry, I got this."

" Ladies!" Raids voice burst onto the wave length.

" Were not ladies Raid," Flight could just picture Pink rolling her eye's as she said this. " Were Human-Avain Hybrids, there's a huge difference."

" Human-Avian Hybrids then," Raid replied. " You're approaching your destination in 0023 minutes, you cannot be seen until I give you the go ahead, the Brothers aren't starting their attack for another hour or so."

" Got it," Flight said calmly, and increased the speed of her wings in agitation. In less than two hours it would begin, she hoped to God that nothing would go wrong.

**OC Flock ( Communication side; Raid, Rain, Dew, Render and Nicky ): Nebraska 12****th**** 2:11 AM**

Raid checked the radio dial once making sure the channel was the right one, and moments later checked it again, his hand shaking nervously.

" Raid you okay?" Rain had her feet propped up on the desk that the radio transmitter was positioned on. "You're really antsy all of a sudden."

" It's going to begin in a few minutes," for the umpteenth time he reached over to check the dial and Rain snatched at his hand.

" It doesn't matter how many times you check it, it's going to be the same either way," she tried to give him a smile. " They'll be fine, you weren't so worried a few moments ago."

He wrung his hands together, " It's not very exact, it all depends on how the enemy reacts. I don't want to loose anybody."

" Your normally not this nervous when we get in a tussle," Rain raised her eyebrows and Raid rolled his shoulders uncomfortably.

" I have this feeling in the back of my head and it just won't go away," he sighed, something he'd done a lot that day. " I've learned to trust my feelings."

" Don't worry!" Dew chirped from the floor, " Flight promised she wouldn't let anybody get hurt."

" When she'd do that?" Raid looked curiously at the eleven year old and she shrugged her skimpy shoulders.

" She told me and Render earlier," at the mention of Renders name she looked over at the small form wedged under the desk asleep, and her lips faintly turned upwards. " Flight will take care of them, she always has Raid. She's handled more than this." In fact, she had handled a lot more. She had nearly succumbed to death twice, but fought her way from its grasp. She didn't speak of those times though, those things were locked deep inside her memory, never to be revisited, by her or anybody else.

Raid nodded slightly and then his face looked stricken when he glanced at the watch, balanced precariously next to Rain. "Shit!" He seized the radio and without a second glance at the channel frequency pressed the side button. " Pete, hear me?"

" Loud and clear."

" The time is 1:25."

" First wave out."

" May God be with you." That was it, nothing but the most terse replies were allowed.

With a trembling hand, Raid hung the radio communicator up, his eyes misty as he looked distantly at a spot on the wall; not really seeing it at all. "So," he said softly with a sigh. " It begins." And then nothing more.

Rain, Dew, and Nicky ( Render was of course, asleep under the desk) remained silent, none of them meeting each others gaze, the same feeling of bewilderment descended on all.

**AN: Good God, one part done one or two to go, depending on how far the next part gets. I will post the next part in an hour or so. And thank you to all that reviewed, not nearly as many as I wanted, but hey, I'll get used to it and as long as**_** someone's **_**reading it, then I should be fine. **

** So another note on reviews, I do allow people who aren't part of Fanfic to review ( and those to lazy to login )… and really what's going to happen if you review, if your afraid that I'm going to stalk you, don't think that highly of yourself. I don't track ordinary teens around, how much fun would that be? I don't do the hiding in bushes kind of thing. **

** Last note before I proceed to write Part 2. My tri just ended, meaning that it will take school awhile to load me up until I'm breaking and I have nothing to do over the weekend. I will TRY to update, but this depends on my will power and self esteem ( reviews will make me happy… happy flie update ) So with further ado, lets me start writing the next section. **

**And sorry if you don't like the other flock… but had to be, last section will be mainly Max infested ( which I will try to post tonight… or tomorrow morning) **

** Flamingflie**


	11. Chapter 8 part 2

_Disclaimer: I am not DELICIOUS MANGOE ( this has been a rumor circulating around, and it's something that fit into the disclaimer category), and I don't own Maximum Ride. _

**Chapter Eight PART II: Wrestling with the grip of insanity and not winning**

_" One day we'll drink to this and say, Remember when we died we went out in flames." - The Fight, The Classic Crime _

**The Brothers (AN: sorry didn't capitalize this last time): Nebraska, December 12****th**** 1:24 AM**

The air was thick with anticipation and with the crackle of the radio all came to life with sudden ferocity.

" Pete, hear me?" More man than boy, Pete let a small grim smile settle across his lips before clicking a smooth rectangular button on his receiver," Loud and clear." He looked over to his cohorts and nodded at two lanky boys; they disappeared into the dense foliage surrounding them; they were the bombers, the personal that detonated the miniature mines that they had so laboriously set out hours ago.

" The time is 1:25," the voice sounded unreal and unattached, Pete waited for a moment before replying.

" First wave out."

" May God be with you," _God? What God? _Pete thought momentarily and rolled his shoulders, feeling them grind under the enormous pack, fitted neatly against his spine, finally at long last it was time to mobilize.

He hated sitting still, it reminded him back to the days when he had attended high school, it seemed so long ago, years, but in reality it was only a couple of months. But in those short months, everything had changed. He had met the Brothers, he had taken in all the humans of the city that hadn't been killed, a group of about nine and they had fought back. Teaching themselves how to fight and fulfilling his dream to be a military leader. Two had died on a mission, something that he really didn't want to repeat.

" Everything's set, enemy is coming from the west. Want me to pull the plug?" Wilson had just returned with Luke and they were both crouched down low, their arms tucked close to their body in the freezing conditions.

" No, wait until their in sight," Pete brushed some snow from his hood, his eyes glazing over with a film of water from the cold air hitting them.

The group of seven was positioned overlooking a frozen swamp, straddling a rocky outcrop that jutted out like a motionless arm into the atmosphere. It was a nice place for an ambush, the heightened ground giving them some leverage over their lowered enemies.

Pete swiveled his eyes in a large arc over toward the small hill before the swampland, just in time to see the dark shadows of erasers crest the hill in a semi-organized pattern, he swore under his breath.

" Detonate now Wilson!" Wilson didn't hesitate and in moments had a small metal object that resembled a remote control in his hand. Ignoring all of the other buttons, he pressed the large one in the center.

Pete didn't have time to recover after a blast rocked the earth under his feet, before another one struck, and threw his hand against the rock face for support. " Shooters!" He shouted and then bullets whipped through the air.

This is what he was made for, his cumbersome mass didn't compare to the hefty enemies, but his sharp eye and quick reflexes gave him somewhat of an advantage with a weapon in hand.

He carried a longer gun, resembling something of a rifle, but with a slenderness to it that it's bulkier cousin didn't posses, it looked somewhat powerful positioned on it's owners knee, claiming attention of Pete's focus.

Pete raised it effortlessly off the ground and trained his eye to the battle field below and was quick to frown, the erasers weren't giving up much of a fight, their bullets ricocheted off odd angles, and not a single one came close to the tightly knit group.

" Wilson?" Wilson exploded another round of bombs and the number lessened by five, before turning to observe Pete skeptically.

" What?"

" There not fighting back."

" There shooting at us," Wilson replied ducking at a bullet that came no where near his vicinity and then frowned. " What the hell?"

" Their distracting us.. God Damn It!" He swung his gun on to his back in one fluid motion. " Fall back, now!" But it was too late.

Metal fell heavily from the air as if it had exploded around them, ripping the stones from their fathers and sending them catapulting down the cliffs. Pete had barely enough time to throw himself to the ground and roll behind a large stone jutting out in front of him. The other's weren't so lucky.

They attempted to fight back, but even they knew their attempts were fruitless. The enemy descended on them, thick and heavy from all sides of their rocky outcrop.

Pete heard his friends, his brothers, hit the solid minerals, squirming as the life forces that had once boomed so strongly in their bodies diminished. Having reached his last nadir of despair he felt that it should have some conclusion other than this, something more than scrunching up behind a granite rock awaiting the dark grave. He thought is was meant to mean something more than this, dying was a formidable opponent, but didn't that mean that you could fight it?

Without any real grasp on sanity in his mind he stood up in the baying of the wild wolves and locked eyes with his final enemy. The thing didn't look human anymore, the human skin stretched into the form of a strangled animal. He saw no pity in the creatures gaze as it pulled back the trigger, nor did he detect any in his own as he coaxed the last bullet from his cartilage and into the grimacing animal.

He felt no reluctance in his body as it deflated around him, and remarkably little pain as he sunk to the ground his lips parted, not surprised, but unfeeling.

_Strange, _he thought, _how death feels_. His last conscious memory wasn't of fear, or anger, it was one of loneliness, as he watched Wilson's finger twitch feebly in attempt to rise and then stop abruptly as his chest ceased to rise.

**OC Flock ( Night group) : Nebraska December 12****th**** 1:31 AM**

Darkness, so absolute that the only thing visible was the glint of Pinks reptilian wings from the fading moonlight, and the glare of Flights bare scalp. They were flying speedily through the slick snow, slicing it with a ruffle of feathers and scales, to Keria it felt as if she was desolately alone on an alien planet.

Nervousness came in the form of cold, pale and sweaty palms, causing a distraction for Keria as she rubbed them unnecessarily hard on her pant legs. This was finally it, an organized run, a blow to the new cruel empire dawning on the world.

" Slow down!" Hissed Flights staggering voice from in front of her and she dropped back, stunned that she had broken formation. She rounded behind Pinks eerie wingspan and gulped, clenching her fists, her non-existent nails making no mark on her freezing palms. She tried to ignore the fear encroaching upon her and squinted ahead through the tendrils of white.

They were in a wide, deep ravine, snow littering the frozen creek far below. Either side of them was a rock wall, carved from years of glacier movement and river formation. The place was somewhat shielded from aerial view from a slick granite shelf that made Keria feel like she was in a bottle with a narrow top; but it provided little help if an attack were actually to an occur, their was really no where to go but up; that's what the diversion was for.

Keria angled her wings through a particularly slender opening, feeling the insatiable joy of her feathers ruffling in the small pocket of warmer air trapped in the tunnel. Then she was on the other side and with a flurry her wingspan reached it full potential and she was coasting with little effort behind Pink.

" Five minutes," a comforting voice rang in her ear and a small smile wove its way onto her face; Raid.

" Approaching opening, increase velocity!" Pink yelled over the gale and Keria instantly felt her wings circle faster as if a gear had been changed, with this change of movement fear intensified and spread itself through her like a tidal wave, unable to ignore it, she closed her eyes for the briefest moment to find an inner piece; that's when the first shot rang out.

The opening was a stretch that lay bare and open to the land; like a scar on a face, they made insignificant targets; rats trapped in a maze of their own design. This was the final flaw in the plans, the chance that they would be sighted at this point in the game, they had flipped the coin and lost the toss.

" Shit!" Pink swore heavily and Keria waited with bated breath for Flights commands; she didn't have to wait long.

" There can't be many of them, fly hard and fast through the opening, cover Pink," the last part of the message was nearly indiscernible, but Keria believed she heard "they couldn't have been expecting us," distinctly in her ear. _But maybe, _Keria thought traitorously_, that's where we went wrong. _

She didn't finish running the words through her mind, everything happened so fast, she later wondered if there was anyway that she could've have stopped it, but dismissed it when the pain welled up in her abdomen at the memory.

Pink hated orders with a feverish passion and her anger boiled to a point when a bullet skimmed across one of her wings, shredding the feathers in a bloody streak. " You bastard!" She shrieked and dived upward towards a ledge that contained a single eraser and a dark firearm.

" Pink!" Flight whirled around at the exact moment Pink clobbered the eraser in the head with the butt of her gun , the animal falling mutely to the ground. But that was all she saw, the anger of the blood smeared thoughtlessly along her back. She didn't see the inhuman grin, the wild eyes staring greedily at her, or the glint of the metal barrel pointed in her direction. She only registered Flight slamming into her and a loud jolt that sent a tangle of feathers and skin tumbling to the ground hundreds of feet below.

Flight hit the ground with a resounding crack before either of them could react, a steady stream of blood leaking from her cracked skull.

The moment of impact to Keria now seemed non-existence, she didn't remember the time it took from her to see the form sprawled on the red ice to the time her fist contacted the eraser skull. All she remembered was the satisfying crunch and the sickening sweet smell of blood drench into her senses. With no remorse she had pummeled the animal, crimson coated her hands; she was permanently stained with the stench of the death, but none of it seemed to really matter.

A bullet grazed past her head; she didn't flinch and wheeled around a snarl embedded in her mouth. " You-" no words compensated for the great grief settling on her, instead she leaped from the small ledge and onto the ridge of the rip of earth and smashed her boot into the stomach of an eraser. It was the most intense anger she had ever felt, more powerful than the abhor that entrenched itself in the scientists puny white coats.

It was a slaughter, nothing stopped them as rage consumed both of their broken bodies. And then it was over, and on the edge of time and reality Keria plummeted from the roof of the world and snapped her wings open and pushed down hard. She didn't look back at the crumpled body on the ground, nothing could be done, one journey ended, another one coming to a close.

The snow fell fast and thick and neither of them slowed down, banking and slamming face first into harsh drafts. " This isn't real," Keria whispered softly to herself. " This isn't real.." She closed her eyes for a moment and the same freezing air smacked her face when her lids opened. " Land ahead," she called brokenly and slammed into the ground before a linked fence topped by a razor webbing of wires. Her knees vibrated dangerously before she collapsed on them, with a soft crack as they hit the icy covering over the snow.

There was no sign of Pink.

" Pink?" Awkwardly she turned around and ratcheted in on a figure flying lopsidedly in the distance. She could see Pink's pale outline against the moon that had just recently revealed itself.

" Ker-?" Pink's leathery wings beat feebly as she looked in Keria's direction and she half heartily smiled before they stopped moving altogether and she started to fall.

The ragged lines of strain showing on Keria's face she hurtled towards her falling friend, feet before the ground, she hit her with enough force to knock her sideways and slow the impact to something bearable. The black haired girl tumbled over and landed face down in the snow, blood seeping from some unknown location into the pure whiteness.

" Pink?" Keria leaned over her, and with shaking hands turned her on her side, seeing ( with much relief ) the shaky breathes that escaped her mouth.

" Keria?" She asked with her eyes still closed, scrunched up, perhaps in pain.

" Yeah?" She softly stroked her friends cold scaly wing and water welled up in her eyes.

" My leg, it burns," Keria moved her hands cautiously down to Pink's pant leg and smelled the same irony smell of blood and carefully ran a knife down the length of the jean leg, ripping it open. A pulsing wound lay in between the Fibula and Tibia, blood smearing down her skin in rivulets.

" Is it bad?" Pink whimpered and Keria sat dumbstruck at the gaping tear, and then hesitantly gulped before replying.

" Yeah," she said faintly, not daring to look at Pink. " Your going to be okay though."

Keria leaned closer, bile rising at the back of her throat and then saw something that saw her heart flutter in her chest. A small cylindrical metal tube was wedged next to one of the open leg bones, a staining stream of purple leaking out of it. " No!" She shrieked and ripped the object out, not hearing Pink's blood curdling scream of pain, and threw it as far as it would go. A new wave of blood pushed it's way from the flesh Keria had just torn apart, Pinks cries lessened slightly, but an endless moan never ceased coming from her mouth.

" Wha - was - Tha?" Pink asked, shuddering with every word.

" You're," Keria stared blankly at Pink's face, shaking and then wet her lips before she continued. " You're poisoned." The older girl vaguely remembered the plans for the new bullet that injected a deadly concentration of metals into the blood stream, it had been set up in one the laboratories she had been caged in, an odd number of experiments writhing on the floor; test subjects.

Pink didn't say anything, just trembled in pain, the blood still flowing freely, drenching Pink and Keria. " Am I dying..?" Pink said almost inaudible and wordlessly, tears streaking down her face, Keria nodded.

Then something gripped Pink again and a new level of agony came across her, she twitched, smashing her fingernails into her bloody palms, her eyes began to roll back and forth. She couldn't handle it. " Keria…" the words sounded stricken and boiled with pain. " Shoot me." Keria didn't respond and Pink said it again louder.

" No Pink, no," Keria shook her head, rocking on her heels, tears falling faster from her eyes.

" Shoot me," she pleaded and Keria shook her head again, " Shoot me God Damn it!" She screamed, spit flying from her mouth.

Keria looked down at her friend, her little sister and slowly a watery smile spread its way onto her face, she leaned over and hugged her hard, kissing her on the forehead, " Okay Pink…"

The relief was palpable on Pinks face, she breathed out weakly and nodded, " Thank-you, I love you."

" I love you too." She pulled the trigger.

**AN: Is it just me or do I sound particularly morbid today? Sorry for all those character deaths, and if you hate me go ahead and flame, haven't had some of those in awhile, it would be fun and safe to assume you can't kill me through a computer screen. ( As I write this I haven't killed Pink yet, and am devising exactly how I want to do it, of course by now you already know how she was killed… but at this particular part of time I don't even know… sorry, just fun to write an author note before the I end the chapter) So as always review, I can't threaten you cause what can I really do, whine at you? I'm not going to stop posting because of something as insignificant as that ( just realized that ), besides I don't even have enough reviewers to really threaten anyone, I just sound stupid and people would ignore me. **

** For you people that read and didn't review my story, thanks for reading, maybe you'll find it somewhere deep down in your heart to push that button ( maybe you don't have hearts, never asked… I don't) if you don't , once again, I'm not going to strangle you through the stupid box. **

** Any way, I'll kill Pink tomorrow ( of course you normally wouldn't know this, because I tend not to give people my agenda), Till then. **

** Flamingflie**

**PS: I think that I made the deaths too sudden and I don't really like the way that I wrote it… what do you think? **


	12. Chapter 8 part 3

_Disclaimer: Don't own Maximum Ride. I really don't even know if I own the plot , Max's mission was to save the world in the first place wasn't it? Guess I just own the complications. Anyway, enjoy. _

**Chapter Eight PART III: Wrestling with the grip of insanity and not winning**

_" I'll take my heart back and set the people free, I'll leave the dead to die and take what's coming with me." - The Fight, The Classic Crime_

(Max's POV)

I twisted around, craning my neck to catch glimpse of her mutated form, but she was already gone, whisked away by the night. Part of me wanted to chase her, to find her and beat her until she couldn't move anymore, the stronger part knew that it was an impossibility. I was small and insignificant in the bloody battle field, with nowhere to go; only backwards.

" Wait," I said slowly not looking at Nudge, I knelt down and gently pried the dead fingers of the man off the Catwalk sign and propped it up in the red snow.

" He was a good man," Nudge somberly pat my shoulder and I nodded deeply the words _the innocent are dying _bouncing around in my head. " They all were, I hope that they are in a better place." It felt like some sort of ending to a brief prayer and I stood up, a gust of wind chilling through my windbreaker, but it wasn't that which made me stop short.

Grime, sweat, persistence, anger, and pain mixed together has a particular odor, one that is only present when a certain enemy makes an appearance. " Erasers," I whispered, looking around fervently. I grabbed Nudges windbreaker, dodging behind a pile of corpses we spun into an alley and spread our wings, hiding in the shadows of the roof tops and spires.

The place that we had been in seconds before was filled with Erasers, they were set low to the ground and scuttling over to the corpses, bending their necks and then they began to tear. I smothered a choking sound that came out of my mouth; God, they were feeding. I turned away, glimpsing a shell shocked Nudge. She wasn't shaking, but her fingers were winding a loose thread on her jeans, over and over again, constricting her pinky and inaudibly whispering to herself over and over again, I think she was praying…. Or swearing, I couldn't tell.

We needed to get out of here.

I moved my feet slightly, trying not to upset the icicles around me, Nudge was already up, a fierce determination pasted on her face. We made our way to the end of the building, my stomach squeezing itself in circles, I let my wings fall away from my back, angling my arms closer to my trunk, readying myself for the fall.

A howl discharged from the silence around us, not a howl of anguish or of pure elation, one that signaled a hunt. My blood ran cold.

I prepared myself to jump, my mind measuring time, distances and spirals that I could do to minimize the probability that I would be shot, but nothing came in our direction. Nudge silently stole to the other side of the building and looked back at me horrorstruck and opened her mouth wording things to me, two words over and over again. _The Flock. _Shit.

" Nudge, I'm going to alert them, meet me at-" but I was cut off.

" Max!" Nudge shoved me over, I felt the clang of metal hitting metal at a phenomenal speed, and then an unearthly chuckle.

" You didn't think that I would just let you go did you?" She was propped up on the railing, a guns barrel pointed directly in the spot my head had been only moments before, her dread locks giver her an unrealistic aura.

" Nudge," I hissed out of the corners of my lips, my eyes still locked on the contorted woman. " Warn the flock."

" On three," her lips didn't move, neither did her gaze, I felt something cold pressed into my hand.

" Three!" Nudge rolled off of me and plummeted off the building, at the same time I leapt off the ground and shot the hinges of the railing with the gun she had pressed into my hand, the woman growled and slithered off the teetering metal bar, but we had already accomplished the main goal; Nudge had slipped off into the night.

W

He had waited for hours; no satisfying truth making itself visible, his feet had stopped pacing the endless roves of concrete, but with their motionlessness his thoughts were far from still.

What was happening? Were they coming back?

Fang hated waiting, the assailing dread that crept into the veins, the doubt that clung to every last fragile tendril of hope.

He sat down roughly on a broken piece of plaster, vaguely remembering the look of concern yet undeniable joy on her face as she plunged off the edge of the building. He didn't repudiate the fact that she was strong, actually it was something that he depended on heavily… more than she knew, but still mortals had their limits.

_ " Fang?" Her voice was quite yet probing and Fang waited a moment before swiveling his head around to face her. _

_" Yeah?" His voice came out dryer than usual, the crisp coldness of the air zapping the saliva from his mouth. _

_" Ummm…" he knew it was something important, something hollowing her from the inside out, he watched her squirm, searching for words for a minute before intervening. " This about him?" The child had been male, their was no mistake and he could see her eyes widen as she nodded ardently. _

_" God, I just keep seeing his face Fang… and his twisted limbs," her voice broke and he saw a reflection of his face in her eyes before she looked away. " It could be anyone, just think if Gazzy or Angel.." she let her words peter out and fell silent, her face turned away from his. _

_" Max," with slow consecutive movements he reached up and brushed his hand over her hair; turning her head to look at him. " We'll get them out of here alive, I pro-"_

_" Now your God?" Max snapped sarcastically and he regretted adding the last lines. " We can't see the future Fang, we can't protect them forever." _

_" We can try," Fang said _

_" Try what? Stopping the apocalypse from happening? I think you have too much confidence in yourself," her words were angrily spat at him, he pulled his hand away, regretfully. _

_" Max, if there's anyone who can stop the apocalypse it's you," he believed that if was true, even if she didn't. _

_" Fang-" Her tone of voice was less angry, it was desperate, saddened, lost. _

_He felt that it would be right to hug her, to reach out and wrap his arms around her quaking body, but he didn't, he was afraid… he leaned away. _

_" Max there's always light in the world, even if it doesn't shine all the time." She was looking away, she was hiding her eyes and he knew it, but he did nothing. He turned his back on her, aware that she was crying, aware that she needed someone, but he didn't move. He was only fifteen after all. _

Hours passed with no real distinction between each one, Fang hadn't moved, his chest barely rose in attempt to prick his ears for anything that would release him from his constant apprehension. His eyes were squinting against the storm, feeling the flicker of snow against his leathery skin and then their was some movement.

It was from behind him, a slow sigh and then the shuffling of small feet; two pairs of smaller feet.

Angel was the first to appear, her hands balled close together to keep the cold from invading them, without smiling she sat down next to Fang, her eyelids unnaturally wide. " Did they say when they would be back?" Angel asked, sounding less childish than somebody twice her age, she didn't wait for an answer before letting her gaze drop to her hands fidgeting inside the triangle her legs had made when she sat down.

" No," Fang looked over at Gazzy who was standing above Angels head, squinting in the drifts before talking. " Iggy asleep?"

" No," Gazzy said sullenly and didn't expand. All of them were silent for a moment and then Angel suddenly became very still, her iris's alight with an inner fire.

" Someone's coming."

" Is it them?" Gazzy couldn't mask the anticipation in his voice and Angel shook her head, discontent written all over her face.

" It's just Nudge."

" But-"

Nudge skidded on the concrete, barely missing a huge concrete slab, her sneakers making a harsh grinding noise, cutting Gazzy off. Her breathing was coming in at an exponential rate but she didn't stop to catch her breath. " Fang, get the flock out of here."

" What happened?" Gazzy had already disappeared back to their encampment, and Fang's voice was for once unsteady.

" Feral Erasers are everywhere, their going to be here any minute," she turned around checking the airways before turning back to Fang, he hadn't said anything but his face was becoming more drawn with every second, finally some words squeezed out of his mouth.

" Where's Max?" Nudge closed her eyes, and breathed.

" Follow the fire, she's on the south side of the lake, or somewhere near it," Fang swore this time before opening his wings, she caught his arm. " Fang," their were no comforting words she could say, she simply said what she thought. " She's going to be hurt, I just don't know how badly, get her to me as soon as you can."

" Nudge, tell Iggy he's in charge, I'll meet you at the water tower," and then he was gone.

W

It could have been over quickly, a single bullet shot into my brain and that could've been how it ended, but, as always, destiny just couldn't help not toying with me.

Both of our guns lay abandoned on the rooftop of some unnamed building, the cocks lying coldly on the concrete, not left because of some last tendril of mercy, but because of the fact that their cartilages were empty and thus useless.

The fight hadn't quite started, not yet, but anytime now something would break out. The blood was rushing fondly through my veins, cradling my close held adrenaline and straddling my patience. I had knocked her off the concrete treetops and into the jungle floor and yet the same impractical smirk was flickering on her untamed face.

" Don't you know what has happened?" She cocked her head unnaturally to one side and a smile dangled from her lips. " Look what my race has become," her laughter sounded like charcoal grating on stone. " The bonds between humanity and Erasers are broken, we are no longer controlled, we have become our own masters." A muscle twitched in her jaw line, a raised line of puffy red tracing it's way across her forehead, what it was from I could only guess.

" You've bred in the cesspools of the cities," I spat lividly at her delicate form bent wryly around a pipe. " And your proud of that?"

" Yes," she whispered almost silently. " We are what our race should have been from the beginning."

" Feral?" I said quizzically, " no order, just chaos writhing in the city."

" Were lead by her," her gaze turned somewhere in the distance, her lips drawn together in a worshipful gaze. " The Alpha, the mother of pups." She paused and grinned boldly, " As the pack grows larger so does her influence. She is one of the few who remembers." She stopped short and I rubbed my grimy palms on my jeans.

" Remembers what?" Her face looked wild, any thoughts of mine turning to an incoherent mass of rumbling in the back of my head; she looked like an animal.

" When we weren't the dominant species, she remembers the inferiority that our race was forced into. The awful submission that made us mangled forms," she shivered blatantly, bringing her hands out in front of her, staring hard at the scars crisscrossing over her forearms. " We are perfection now though, the sons and daughters of our ancestors."

The look on my face couldn't have reflected the tremendous disgust that reeled in the pit of my stomach. The Erasers had tried to create their own race, almost Neanderthal-like, a pack of feral animals living off the flesh of mankind, and yet speaking the same language as them. It was cannibalism.

I fixed my gaze on her and saw her corneas rake across my body hungrily, a predator sizing up it's prey. "Goodbye Max," her voice ran smoothly out of her mouth, silk made from an ugly squirming larva.

And then she lunged.

Faster than anything I've seen, she whipped behind me, clawing at my back, I felt a sudden piercing pain split through my left wing and then pushed off the ground angrily, flipping to face her. I swung my leg out and it was about to crack into her shoulder when she slid her hand out and twisted my knee painfully to one side, I used the force and knocked her in the head with the back of my wing, landing in a heap on the cold ground before grinding my hands hard on the ice, feeling the cold rub the skin raw, and pushing myself up in time to block a punch thrown half lazily at my face.

" You know-" she caught my hand and twisted it behind my back and attempted to pop it, " those scientists did an poor job of exterminating the useless experiments." I hooked my leg around her calf and flipped us over sideways, landing hard on my shoulder and rolling away from her when her grip loosened.

" Actually," I began, she kicked me in the chest and I stumbled back, my legs slipping from under me, I spun completely around grating my feet into the loose snow, hurling flecks of ice towards her before tackling her bodily towards the ground. She caught my hands and we stood there for a few a moments, my hands immobilizing her elbows, her fingers latched on mine. " The Erasers were the scientists lackeys," I slammed my head into hers and she fell panting to the frozen earth. " So it was the Erasers stupidity, not theirs."

She reared up on her hunches and sprung at me, I backed up several paces, feeling the air open out around me, vaguely aware that I was on the lip of a small pond, the ice was uneven and some of the patches were darker than others the water pressing up tightly to it's frozen predecessor. " Our species have evolved," her eyes became pinpricks as darkness engulfed both of our ragged bodies, the moon had disappeared. I closed my eyes; they were useless now. I screwed my concentration into remembering the layout the lake, a spot of thin exposed ice was three feet to my left. " Unlike yours." I wasn't aware of her moving behind me, I felt her hot breath bait the hair on the back of my neck to rise, and then pain rippled across my face, a soft satisfied laugh coming from everywhere at once. " Death isn't so unpleasant Max," she whispered in my ear; and then I struck.

I threw all my weight into her side, feeling freezing water cut into the heels of my shoes, the ice groaning with our combined weight. I stomped my foot down, missing her foot by inches, and slamming it into the frozen water.

It wasn't as I had expected it to happen, there was no sudden shotgun sound as the ice shattered around us, it sucked us down greedily, ripping at my wings and tearing at them. Then I was submerged, dimly aware of the other body squirming next to me, and the intense cold ripping through my body like a rouge bullet. I pushed towards the surface and my head erupted out, scorching my lungs. I had no idea how to get out.

The shivering rattled through my body at an intoxicating rate, I put my hands on the unbroken ice that rimmed the sink hole that I had created and tested it with my hands. My muscles, tendons and ligaments screamed in pain as I used all of my upper body to haul myself out, splayed languidly on a watery grave.

A choking noise broke into my subconscious, someone tugged on one of my limbs, I wasn't sure which one, and then the Eraser was leering over me, bloodlust tangled with the mass of disillusion in her eyes. " You-" she wrapped her hands around my neck and began to squeeze, the lights beginning to dim around my eyes, the cold beginning to leech away. _Angel, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge….. Fang. _I wasn't going to give that up, I wasn't going to let her win. I wrenched my knee up and smashed it into her ribs, hearing a snap and heaving myself up. " You didn't think it was going to be that easy?" I snarled, my clothes stiffening on my body. She nimbly dodged a vicious kick I sent at her head and rolled into an upright position. I could see a hazy outline of her figure in the newly restored moonlight and leapt at it, she crumpled at a hit I threw at her shoulder, but regained herself enough to back up a few paces so that she was on bare land.

But that wouldn't save her.

She put up her hands defensively as I twirled my soggy scraped wings up and rammed her with as much force as I could muster. My arms closed around her waist and her claws contacted with the side of my head. I gritted my teeth and pulled us both away from the ground, using my speed to lift us fifty feet in the air before pulling into a sharp dive.

The air colliding with my ears didn't cover the blood curdling scream of pain and the bone jarring crack as I smashed into the concrete, using the former dark skinned woman as a shield.

All of the air left her lungs at once and I rolled off of her gasping at the pain rattling through my nerves, blurrily catching glimpse of her body arching and then twitching, blood trickling out of her mouth and pooling around her back, the skin ripped apart exposing her cracked vertebrae.

My stomach began to churn and my eyes watered, something warm made it's way up my throat and I spun onto my side retching onto the ground, tasting acrid lumps pass over my tongue and hit the hard, cold snow.

I could feel my hair slide into the vomit as I tried to move my head in vain, my muscles refused to let me shift. My muscles were contracting all throughout my body, unable to warm themselves up, but this seemed irrelevant to me.

The crimson covered face of the woman was etched in my mind, her bloodshot eyes swiveling on the edge of death, her limbs jerking in an uncoordinated rhythm. Herr\ body on the long spiral downward, spiraling into what I wasn't sure.

**AN: You guys reviewed so much! Thank you so much, I feel very loved ( and it says that 18 people looked at the latest chapter which means that I have at least that many people reading it even if they don't review, feel free to though. Frankly I don't care what you say in the reviews, you could talk about how drunk your dog got last night and I would like the review just the same). And sorry about the terseness of 8.2, I'll expand on it more in 9 ( which I started writing by the way ). **

**Hey if I were to write a story on Fiction Press would any of you guys read it? I don't care if you say no, I just have a vague idea of what to write about anyway. It just would be fun to do. **

**And if any of you fellows have a story that you want me to read ( yours or any other random persons), screw modesty and tell me that it's freaking amazing, I'd be happy to read and review. **

**So Thank you for all the reviews, you make my life. And as always REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!! Till next time. **

** Flamingflie **

**… Sorry this was way later than I thought it would be… I will update over the weekend though!! ( I have a 12 hour car trip to my Grandma's and then a 12 hour trip back….. I hate writing chapters out by hand, but if it comes to it, I will …. I mean that's a bucket load of time. **


	13. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I don't own Jackie Chan…….. Okay not Maximum Ride either. _

**Chapter Nine: Breaking the fall with your shattered skull**

_" You've been hiding in the shadows have you forgotten how we used to dream? Let me remind you, the light doesn't blind you at all, it just helps you see, can you see?" Become, Goo Goo Dolls_

Nobody knows the pure desperation that tugs at the heart when it's last strength falls into place. Nobody can be ready for the complete inhumation, almost evolution, that the body undergoes, the complete separation of body and soul.

She felt her hand move over to the clutch the trigger, and yet it wasn't part of her at all. She felt her lips crinkle into the wisps of a smile, but it wasn't her smile, it was alienated from her body. A gaping hole tore through her torso as the sound echoed around her in an endless cycle. The dull thud of the metal connecting with the thick skull bone, it wasn't clean and she didn't look away; her neck wouldn't turn.

Pink lay still, her last moments on earth not noble in the least, her eyes were still screwed up in a never ending pain, the blood still ran freely from her leg, from her head. The liquid, thick and yet aqueous tumbled out of her, hollowing her.

Why? Keria didn't know why she had done it, it was unnatural, the position of her body, standing upright, but not standing at all. But at the back of her mind she knew the answer, one single word that had shattered over the course of her life and was non-existent in her plodding trail: Hope.

Hope had lead her to carry on, it had inspired her to beat her wings again, to breath and allow her lungs to rise again. Pink had had none left, it was better to end it than to allow the suffering to go on.

She still had one fraying tendril left.

The lopsided smile still on her face she turned away and walked on the crunching ice. Numbly aware of the cold seeping into her bones.

Pink.

Flight.

Heroes in their own right. Giving up everything for that one shot at freedom.

They would not die in vain.

She wasn't aware of the span of time that passed between there and here, she just saw the vague hazy spirals of lights glimmering off of the facility. She dodged behind a slab of cold concrete and deliberately yanked a gun from her belt and held it close to her chest.

She swung around the barrier and let her wings fly open to break her fall, looking indistinctly at the sky, ignoring the dazzling moon, her jaw set into a line of perseverance.

She reached up towards the mike rubbing against her mouth, and flicked it on with the tips of her fingers.

" Ready and in position," she didn't know why she felt a chill trickle down her spine as his voice answered, she felt a fear that smashed into her with such force that it briefly knocked the breath out of her.

" Keria?" He sounded confused, his voice making her eyes light despite everything that happened. " But where are-" She cut him off, it hurt her so much to sound lifeless to sound uncaring, but in the end nothing mattered except the pain that would surely ensue if he learned of her comrades deaths.

" Ready and position." She clicked off the radio and cringed as she was separated from the only person in the world that truly knew her.

W

Iggy felt a fleeting rapture, nothing was better than this, nothing could compare with the this, this freedom. He was loosely aware of the beating of his heart, how it fluttered against his chest, and the screaming storm as it smacked into his eyelids and laughed past his ears.

" Iggy, the water towers coming up," Nudge sounded slightly nagging and Iggy frowned, the freedom leeching away slowly.

" Anything in sight?" It was annoying not being able to hear much in the sweeping winds and freezing ice chunks.

" No," Nudge paused for a full second, Iggy could imagine her flipping her head, scanning the surrounding area, then she angled her body slightly, he felt the tendrils of body heat slip away as she climbed higher into the sky. " Ange, you pick up anything?"

" It's really vague," Angels voice cut out, and Iggy heard her come from further ahead. " I hear this murmur, but I can pull out certain feelings. Their happy, almost excruciatingly happy… and hungry, actually more starved."

" Happy?" Nudge digested this for an instant before Iggy head her feet contact the solid metal top of the water tower, he landed without a bit of disposition. " Those… Savages..!" Iggy could tell she wanted to say more and Angel had suddenly stiffened next to him, reaching out to take his arm.

" Nudge?" Angel's hand tightened on Iggy's skin, but he didn't unlatch her." They all died?" It was silent except for the rattling of Angels breath as she shook with held in tears.

" Yes." Iggy felt the tension in the air heave around him, and Angel cracked, a few stray tears leaking from her eyes. He knelt down and hugged her tightly.

" What happened Nudge?" He untangled Angels hair with his fingers and pointed his face towards Nudge, his eyebrows drawn together, he didn't hear her breath.

" You said something about feral erasers?" Gazzy prompted, Iggy could tell his voice was coming from the lip of the water tower; watching for any unwanted followers.

" Yeah," Nudge wavered and Iggy nodded for her to continue. " I.. I mean me and Max.. we saw a fire… I mean." She took a deep breath and then started back at the beginning, her voice more relaxed than before. " I was on watch, I saw a light in the darkness, it flickered and seem to move with the wind, so I thought that maybe it was a fire. I woke Max and Fang up, Fang watched the flock and me and Max went to investigate. We thought that it was the two guides that had brought us here, and were going to make sure that they were safe. We got there. It was a slaughter.. Everywhere there were dead bodies and blood," she gulped but didn't stop talking. " It was Catwalk. Everything is destroyed, nobody is left-"

" Who attacked the-"

" I'm getting to that part," Nudge snapped and spoke quieter, a nervous edge clawing at her voice. " Do you guys know what happened to all the Erasers from the labs?"

" We'll their all under the scientists control right?" Iggy said softly from the top of Angels head and he heard Nudge shake her head.

" They broke off, at least that's what I think." She paused, but not for dramatic effect, and Iggy heard her turn her body. " Gazzy did you see anything?"

" I thought.. No, nothing, I'm just jumpy."

" That makes all of us," Total muttered from Gasman's feet, Iggy ignored them, having an epiphany of his own.

" So when you said feral Erasers, you meant they've made colonies of their own?"

" Yeah, that's what took over Catwalk and it on it's way here right now. There's so many Ig," a cough racked her body and Iggy squirmed uneasily. " It's like their breeding an army."

" This fight isn't just about taking over the world anymore is it?" Nudge laughed shortly, but the reason of the laughter was unknown.

" No Ig, It's a mass genocide."

" The kind of genocide that will only leave one race," Gasman's voice came quietly from his guarded position.

" The final battle of mutants verses humans, and I'm sure as hell not fighting for the mutants." Nudge laughed again, but this time at the irony of the whole thing.

W

Fear was a virus; once it was entrenched in a system it kept resurfacing in a cycle. Fang, unfortunately, had caught the bug, and not for the first time in his life, it pounded through his body releasing unfathomable amounts of adrenaline.

" Max!?" His voice cracked, going from his normal tone to a deep gravelly pitch, but the effect of the word was the same; no response.

He flung his dark wings open, the feathers catching the gleam of the moonlight and reflecting in all directions, and jumped off the building, smoothly shooting through the roads and streets. He knew that the fire wasn't far off, but still, she could've drifted in any direction. When in a fight Max had been taught to use her surroundings; she wasn't going to let the concrete jungle of twisted metal trees and asphalt caves go to waste.

He wove around a corner, loosing some of his black plumage to the sharp edge of the building, but it didn't matter; the lights loomed in front of him.

They were scattered now, the corpses entrails glistening on the ground like sick and exotic jewels. He spared only a moment to glance at the limp Catwalk sign before landing heavily on the ground, his calves straining at the weight that had just been pressed on them. The dark ice coated wings folded themselves into his back and he scanned quickly around him, taking in the freshly broken open carcasses and the shredded and ruined bodies; none of the bodies were Max though. _Thank the non-existent heavens, _he thought with a heavy heart before the sky became his once again and his feathered limbs expanded across the stars.

He hurtled past the empty buildings and dove straight towards the lower section of the lake, his eyes latching onto a small darkened hole on it's exterior. Somebody or something had broken the ice in that particular area.

Swooping lower, he saw the lacing cracks, angrily crawling over the lake, smashing the delicately formed layer of frozen water. The edge of the body of water resembled the jagged border of an animal pelt, two darkened blobs positioned awkwardly on the cusp of the hem. _Max_, Fangs breath caught in his throat and he practically fell out of the sky, spreading his wings out just in time to slow his fall enough not to do any lasting damage.

She was completely motionless, the figure opposite her blatantly dead, the profusion of blood still dripping from her immobile form.

" Max..?" Fang leaned over her, pulling the matted hair from her face and put his hand numbly on her forehead in an old comforting custom.

She was ice cold.

His fingers traced their way down to her neck, a rare smile gracing his lips at the steady throb of a pulse beneath his fingertips. She was still alive, there was still a chance.

**AN: Sorry it's so short.. I keep on sneezing all over the keyboard, making progress slow, I know what's going to happen next I just don't know how to put it into words next anyway….Pokemon is now wired into my brain for years to come ( Mangoe is playing it behind me and the Pokemonic noises are seriously starting to affect my brain). Anyway, Thank-you for all the reviews ( I don't know how many people reviewed… but I do know that over 20 people read the latest chapter, which means that I kept at least that many people; even if they didn't review…. If you didn't review all I can do is say please… I'm not going to beg, this is MY story and no begging on my part will EVER ensue) So I hope all of you folks had a good Christmas ( if you don't celebrate Christmas then happy winter or whatever you happen to celebrate)…. And I will close with these parting words: **

**Somebody told me, that you had a boyfriend that looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year!!!….**

** Flamingflie**


	14. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I don't own the life and times of the famous Maximum Ride. __Nor the fluffy goodness of Three Musketeer Bars._

**Chapter Ten: Nothing Left until Tomorrow**

_" Never made it as a wise man, I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing, Tired of living like a blind man, I'm sick of sense without a sense of feeling and this is how you remind me, this is how you remind me of what I really am, this is how you remind me of what I really am." This is how you remind me, __Nickleback_

The blood beat with a heart of it's own beneath her cold ice riddled skin; but regardless she stood erect, watching the inevitable animals draw nearer, for the time being just small pinpricks in the distance.

" Nudge," the soft childish voice drove the thoughts of terror out of her mind and she fixed a mask of evasiveness onto her face before turning to the Gasman.

" What Gazzy?" She tried to be soothing, but somehow it sounded like her teeth were two metal plates grating over each other.

" You said that this was a mass genocide right? So that means erasers verses the tender skins-"

" Don't call them that," Nudge snapped with a sudden passion that startled him. " If you haven't forgotten we are part of them, there is more them in us then feral animal and that is the only reason why weren't not ripping throats out. Your parents are ' tender skins' Gazzy, _never _forget that." His eyes had dropped from hers during her paroxysm and they didn't meet them again.

" Sorry Nudge," he mumbled softly. " But I only wanted to ask what _happened _to the scientists."

" It's okay Gazzy, I'm just edgy," she tried to speak gently but it was like taming a wild wolverine, she hurriedly forced herself on topic. " I think that the scientists are either dead or cooped up in their own labs. My guess is that when the Erasers broke the leash, the bloodshed was high, but there are a select few that are still under the control of the labs; those would be the more intelligent ones with less lust." Gasman slowly turned his face to look at her and then his eyes widened horribly, seeing something in the distance rather than her dark pinched face.

" They're closer," she turned around, seeing the hazy wisps of snow unfurl and the approaching smog of Erasers.

The better half of her, desired nothing more than to break every canine bone she could reach. Taking a deep breath, she felt the pieces of what she wanted and what was right rub against each other uncomfortably. Curving towards the decided mentor of the group her words were fast and undecided, " Ig, you're the leader now. Should we stay or go?" The animals were now more like misshapen globs than indistinct dots in the distance, but the number was the same; hundreds.

Iggy turned sightless towards the onslaught, Angels hand feebly locked in his own. " Ange, are Fang and Max safe?" His voice was rough and altered from the exhaustion plainly displayed on his face.

" I don't know," Angel tried to keep her voice from trembling and barely succeeded, Iggy effortlessly leaned over and hugged her, whispering something Nudge couldn't hear in her ear, but it must have been somewhat comforting because a faint disheartened smile that appeared on her face.

" Err…. Iggy, what should we do?" Gazzy was impatiently balanced on the balls of his feet, a tormented expression disturbing his angelic features.

" Gaz, throw me your pack," instantly Iggy had the pack in his hand and released Angel to rifle briefly through it, he pulled out a wad of metallic equipment that gleamed unnaturally in the moonlight. He grinned impishly. " How much gun powder do you have?"

" Are we going to blow the water tower up?"

" Sky high," Iggy chuckled optimistically on the eaves of certain death. " Hurry though…. Distance Nudge."

" Two miles and closing," Iggy nodded as if it were a good thing, ushering Angel over towards Total. " Nudge get Angel and Total out of here, fly due North towards the mountains. Me and Gaz will meet you in a few." Nudge didn't want to leave, it felt unfair that she was pushed out of the main events; but either way Angels safety was more important.

" Raise hell Ig," she put her fist out for Iggy to tap, and with his face still contorted roguishly he tapped it softly, then surprised her by lunging and pulling her into a tight hug. " Planning on it," he whispered fiercely in her ear and then releasing her just as quickly, dropping to his knees, twisting wires expertly and pouring gunpowder in moderation. She was too distraught to smile.

W

His hands ran over her broken frame, subconsciously biting the interior of his lip hard enough to fill his mouth with the sickening iron taste of blood. She was in a bad way, that part he was certain, but still…

He crouched down to take her pulse again, enthused slightly over it's slow returning strength his frown visibly subsided, but returned with more intensity when he was forced to nimbly straightening her awkwardly bent wing.

" Max, what the hell were you thinking?" Fang's voice was incoherent and he slowly pulled back to regard his dubious efforts.

Her head was lying limply in a balled up shirt that he was almost certain used to be Iggy's, his own sweatshirt he had pulled, with much effort for modesties sake and to not injure her further, onto her vapid form ( he had found an overlarge fleecy hoodie on a corpulent man's body and insensitively yanked it off of his fat, chubby, dead arms to claim as his own) and now she looked even more pathetic, drowning in the mass of dark green wool.

He was almost positive that she had broken at least three ribs and her right wrist ( she had also dislocated her shoulder, but that problem had been dealt with first, since it was one of the injuries Max had already sustained as a child and he knew how to fix it properly). The amount of blood she lost was in the pints, but thankfully the cold turned into his ally, as the blood began to turn slushy and instantly clot. He wondered vaguely if he should head Nudges warning ( _"__ get her to me as soon as possible") _but dismissed the idea. No doubt the amount of jarring in flight would cause her greater pain and hinder her recovery more than it already was.

He turned his head at the sound of her groan. It wasn't the kind of groan that people emit in consciousness nor when in contractions of pain; it was a dreamy groan, a rustle of satin through fingertips softened by years of time.

Fang was no romantic, he kept his feelings and emotions off of his face and mind for a good reason ( other than of course just looking like a hard ass gangster ), but he couldn't help but feel the burning regret in the pit of his stomach at her complete abandonment of him.

Why did she have to be so damn stubborn? Why couldn't she have left the flock in the able hands of Iggy and allowed him to tail her?

But then, of course, she wouldn't be Max.

He settled down angrily on his haunches, the warehouse that he had dragged them into, darker than ever.

W

The smell was the first thing that registered in my defunct brain. I wasn't new to the smell of sewage and body odor, but this was far more potent than I could normally come up with just my own traipsing. I wrinkled my nose and moved my head to get pure air, not this unadulterated filth that was clogging up my lungs.

" Max?" Somebody's, namely Fang's, voice came filled with relief from somewhere to my left.

My response should've been something maybe a bit more emotional, for Fang's sake ( the chances were very high that he had just saved my life), but I couldn't bring myself to be kindly in the first few moments of my awakening; I had finally identified the source of the pungent smell.

" Fang your shirt smells like shit," I rasped like a half dead animal.

" You didn't loose as many brain cells as I'd anticipated," he remarked with a chuckle and I shifted, aware that my back was cracking horribly.

" Good to know," I had propped myself up painfully ( if it wasn't for our speedy recovery, who knows were we'd be today), dimly paying attention to Fangs cautions to take it easy on my arms and finally got a good look at my surroundings.

We were in a warehouse, the windows predictably all blown out and blood stained almost artistically on the walls. I was glad that no bodies were in close enough proximity to be seen by the naked eye, at the time, more dead bodies would seriously test my sanity.

" You feeling alright?" Fangs question had my eyes moving back to him, taking in the way he was kneeling on the ground, hinting that he had just recently settled down besides the fire. His jeans were classically crinkled with dirt and grime and his shirt, banally black, would have seen better days on the front line of war. Currently, he was regarding me skeptically and I rose an eyebrow.

" Are you expecting me to keel over suddenly and convulse."

" Naturally," he answered sardonically, reaching over and pulling something out of his considerably mangled rucksack. I caught sight of my former shirt peaking from somewhere in the depths of the bag and my cheeks began to heat with realization.

" Ummm, Fang?" I blundered idiotically into the conversation, maybe I _was_ missing a few brain cells.

" What? Anything hurting?" My expression visibly bewildered him and he froze in the middle of pulling out a handful of 3 musketeer bars that he had undoubtedly jacked from a empty seven eleven.

" You changed my clothes," it was a statement that both of us knew was true and his face changed from confused to humor in a matter of milliseconds.

" No Max, I had Erasers do it, Honestly." He shook his head; snickering. " Did you really need me to clarify that?"

" Yes, assuming things normally gets me in trouble," I said defensively, but he didn't stop laughing as he threw me two bars.

" On the topic of dressing _you_," he ignored the cuss words coming out of my mouth; directed at him. " Did you seriously think that all those late night snacks weren't going stack up? Jabba ain't got nothing on you." The fact that Fang said " ain't" lightened my anger fueled response, but by no means drastically.

" And _your _talking? You weigh more than Iggy and he's _way_ taller than you!"

" Pure muscle."

" If by saying muscle, you mean highly confused fat cells, then yes." He snorted at my response and I ignored his amusement for the time being. I had more pressing issues. " How's the flock Fang?" His laughter subsided like a tabooed word had suddenly sprang up in the midst of a political debate, I didn't take this as a good sign.

" Umm… Hopefully safe," the dark swear words twisting in my mind must have somehow made a nasty expression on my face because he continued hurriedly. " Don't worry about them, Iggy and Nudge can look after everybody and I bet Iggy's rigging up a load of explosives."

" I don't doubt their talents," I said sharply. " But what I _do_ doubt is their ability to fight an army." Fang rolled his eyes and if my hands would've been semi-useable I would have shot him the bird, however, I was in too much pain to even open my Three Musketeer bars.

" They're not idiots," Fang replied after a long moment and exasperatedly ripped the wrapper off of my candy bar and handed it back to me. " Do you need me to feed it to you too?"

" I think I can manage," I retorted acidly, attempting to look intelligent and superior while gnawing fanatically on the frozen chocolate. Needless to say it didn't work out to well.

The silence engulfed us quite completely, both of us stewing from our polar opposite decision making skills. I took it into my two very sore hands to break it with a hammer.

" Fang, you could've just left me and gotten the flock out of here-"

" Are you insane? Don't be a God damn martyr Max," he was whispering, completely pissed, but the forcefulness of his response wasn't arbitrary.

" I'd rather have the flock be safe than myself." He wanted to slap me, but in my present condition he obviously decided it was a bad idea.

" And what will sacrificing yourself do? Are you really so vain that you think that your blood will satisfy the stomachs of thousands." The true answer to that would've been simpler years ago, when I thought that the safety of the world fell squarely on my shoulders, but the rules had been critically shifted. Giving myself up would only bring up our demise that much faster.

The truth of Fang's words cut me deeper than he intended. I was just a single soldier in the entire war; there were no kings and generals.

Fang was still seething, waiting for a response, his eyes darker than their normal burnt umber. " I'm sorry Fang," I hated stooping down and apologizing, but Fangs head shot up at the first three words, letting me know that I had his attention. I stumbled mercilessly into the storm. " It seems like a life time ago when somebody whispered in my ear ' Max, save the world,' and I can't deny it; I wasn't listening. I felt like I had just been born and somebody was forcing me to perform open heart surgery, I was afraid Fang." My emotions poured out like they had just been waiting to boil over. I wanted to kick myself, but I continued on my voice becoming more mechanical as I went. " The fear never truly passed, it's always been there, but as time went on, I began to come to terms with my so called 'destiny', I'm ashamed to admit it, but I actually felt that I could save the world alone, I thought that I was the only player in the vast chess game were positioned on."

" Max-"

" Let me finish Fang," I put a hand up, loathing the way that it shook. " I _know_ that _I'm _not the only one in this game now, I figured that out a year or so ago, so don't go talking about my role in the scheme of all things."

" And this is related to you not being sacrificial how?" Fang posed before I could stop him and I gave him a warning look.

" I just wanted to give you time to get away, that's all, but that gave me more of realization," I paused and Fang waited patiently, urging me to continue with his eyes. " I'm not really needed, am I? What difference would it make if I suddenly dropped dead? Would the earth plummet out of the sky, would the oceans bubble over? No, the only difference would be that one less person stood in the way of the Erasers taking over the world."

" It would make every difference," but he answered to fast, I looked at him skeptically.

" But would it?"

" Max," his eyes desperatly sought mine and I held them solemnly. " It would matter to the flock. It would matter to me."

"Idiot," I hissed through my teeth and he looked uncharacteristically hurt, but I was past caring about others feelings. "I know it would matter to you, but it wouldn't change any outcomes."

" It could change every outcome. Never question your strength Max; you were bred for it." The last part stung, contracting my earlier statement and I fought back bitter tears.

" Oh so I was born for it Fang? Born to kill? To change outcomes?" I couldn't keep the resentment from his last statement out of my voice, but he didn't look taken aback.

" To some degree yes. Don't forget Max, were planning on giving them hell, don't go dying on me." I swallowed the lump forming annoyingly in the back of my throat, but my voice was still scratchy when I answered.

" I wasn't trying to die, really I wasn't. The stupidity of you suggesting that I have a death wish is absurd, however, I'm not above dying if there was no other choice. I don't want to kill myself, but I'd rather have myself swallowed to hell then watching you dragged down." He chuckled suddenly and I looked at him angrily, my temper flaring, but he rolled his shoulders, ridding himself of my dirty look.

" Do you truly believe that we are damned to hell?" The question wasn't exactly what I had been expecting and I shrugged.

" Thou shall not kill, steal, lie… ring a bell?"

" So we have screwed morals. I don't see it as such a big deal."

" Yeah, but last time I checked you had a hard time changing water into wine."

" Guess I'm a little rusty." He responded with a smirk and I rolled my eyes. He was still laughing when he took an enormous swig of a water bottle hidden in the folds of his shapeless sweater. Strangely the water bottle didn't have the intended affect on me ( the intended affect being that my throat would perk up, like a dog regarding a slab of meat), I started to push myself up and two hands twisted out to restrain me.

" Max, you've got freaking broken bones-"

" And an extremely stressed bladder, so if you wouldn't mind." His hands still didn't release me and I sighed. " Unless you wanted to accompany me, I won't deny you the joy of watching me pee eloquently on the beautifully bloodstained bricks." He reluctantly released me and I stumbled out into the seedy wilderness, the agony in my side and head returning with a new concentration, but strangely, I couldn't find the thoughts to even pay half a mind to the pain.

I actually prefer going to the bathroom outside, I was never quite one for privacy ( whitecoats don't think twice before stripping you completely and throwing you in a shower with a host of other deranged mutants) and inherently, the bathrooms had not escaped the cruel slaughter of flesh. I had encountered corpses, lying motionless in stalls, to many times to count and certainly enough times to guarantee my hate of bathrooms.

You would think that peeing in sub-zero weather would be no walk in the park, but I'm not going to lie, it felt so damn good.

I stood there, the steam of liquid hitting the cement rising up in the air ( and don't start going eww, if _you_ were to pee on a cold sidewalk, you would more or less see the same results) and watched the sky for a telltale sign of something out there. Something above me, above Fang, above every broken body and every beating heart, but, as usual, I saw nothing. The heavens remained as intangible as salvation in this wasteland. Go figure.

**AN: It's been awhile guys. Sorry for the time, and I guess I really don't have any excuse other than the luxury of free-time getting entrenched in my brain ( Surprisingly, when my schedule is full, I tend to accomplish more writing and lately I have done absolutely nothing ). But since it's my birthday today ( January 31st, which happens to be an amazing date) I decided that I should update as an act of being older ( of course, not necessarily wiser, I seem to be downgrading in that regard). Reviews would be quite helpful and if you DO review I will send you an interesting quiz (written by yours truly and maybe a bit by Mangoe and ****Mer**** if I have time to gather Ideas). **

**So Review and have a wonderful week. **

**Flamingflie**

**( Random**** quote of my last weekend: **

**" ****Flie**** kicked me in the face." - Mangoe**

**" Did**** he fix it?" - Abe (My mom's boyfriend)( and no I did not kick Mangoe in the face, she likes to slap the wall hard enough to make a noise and claim people hit her to see what the parental figures do. Actually, it's quite amusing) **


	15. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own not Maximum Ride and whatever else happens to be a TM kind of thing.

**Chapter Eleven: Nearing Foreclosure; but selling for full price. **

" _All because of you, I believe in angels. Not the kind with wings, No, not the kind with halos, the kind that bring you home, When home becomes a strange place. I'll follow your voice, All you have to do is shout it out." - The Good Left Undone, Rise Against _

I stood there in my black smock and dark green overcoat, pulling uneasily at the backpack strap bouncing on my shoulder. I winced as the coarse fabric rubbed against my palm, but it didn't cover the immense amount of concern writing itself across my face in permanent marker.

"Fang, they're not here," though it was obvious by the complete abandonment of our previous campsite, I couldn't help but say it out loud.

I bent down and ran my mangled fingers past the unsettled concrete blocks, and pivoted on my feet to face my only companion. "We should have left earlier."

"We left earlier than we should've," Fang's eyes roved for a second across my bandaged body before continuing. "The water tower isn't far off, that's where they'll be."

I looked in vain hope in the general direction of the tower, but the storm easily clouded my vision. "Let's go then," I kicked a plank of torn wood and allowed my wings to slip open, only a slight uncomfortable cracking accompanying them.

I took one last view of our devastated shelter, and then turned with straining muscles and lunged off the building, Fang already in the air by my second downbeat.

This was such a wonderful predicament that we had gotten ourselves into, actually, it was more like forced upon us, but more or less it had the same consequences. We were up the creek without a paddle and loosing reason quickly. I guess it's not like I was ever reasonable in the first place though.

Tears pricked the corner of my eyes, not hot angry tears, but something closer to self-pity. Not only was my family possibly lost, I was in completely new world of pain. I still, although it is a rather far-fetched idea to believe, have limitations. I can't get scraped all over the ground, battered into a bloody, feathery mess and walk away with a skip. My limbs, every God damned last one of them, felt like they were in the process of being liquidated. My fingers were bent at awkward angles and I was attempting to hold my arms somewhat still as each wing beat shook my "fragile" frame.

There are not strong enough words (except for perhaps long tedious swear words that have really lost their true meaning throughout the years) to describe my situation. Yes, it sucked, yes, it felt like the world was slipping beneath my feet, but life had always been like that somehow. And now… Now, things were different. I had never felt so entirely helpless. I always felt like I could do something, _anything_, but now, I just wasn't sure anymore.

"Fang," my words were whipped and battered in the lively air but he turned to me alarmed anyway.

"What, is something wrong?" Concern and pity was not what I needed right now, and the building flood of feelings broke out of my mouth in angry rage.

"What isn't wrong?" I snapped, my hair slapping my cheeks with new intensity. "Every part of our life is wrong, it's wrong that we even exist-- that we have to put up with this shit day after day after day!" I punched the air with my hands to extenuate every day, and with the last word I fell quiet and silently fumed. Every thing was wrong, what the hell was wrong with Fang?

I watched him out of the corner of my eye and his eerie calmness sparked another infuriated snarl. "Are you going to answer me?" I demanded and Fang looked up at me, his eyes were cold and hard and it unsettled me. Fang was rarely this angry.

"No, actually I'm not." His voice was low and unemotional when suddenly the cusp of a growl emanated deep in his throat. "We have company."

I flipped my head forwards and my mouth formed a wordless hole. Erasers-- everywhere-- and they were all converging on one spot; the water-tower.

"Fuck," I murmured under my breath, my anger for Fang blowing away like dust in the wind.

"You said it," he smiled grimly, his wings beating in rhythm with mine. "Why do we do that?"

"What?" I grasped the gun he handed me and proficiently loaded in a matter of seconds. When I looked up he was grinning wryly.

"We always argue-- it doesn't matter what it's about and it really doesn't matter where we are-- but the moment we come to a battle our problems disappear."

"Well I guess what people say is wrong then." I pocketed a knife and turned to face Fang, he quirked his eyebrow.

"And what do people say?"

"Violence never solved anything."

"But were not normal people are we?" We were flying faster now, raking low across the horizon, watching the furry bodies become larger.

"Nah, but we can always pretend," I responded. The lightheadedness of the fight was starting to pump through my veins--if it were possible I would marry adrenaline.

Moments passed where neither of us spoke, but it wasn't long before we skirted to a stop in front of an old gas station. The smell of oil had long faded and moss had crept up onto the pumps, smothering them until they hung themselves in despair.

I had never imagined the end of the world looking quite like this.

"Well," my head shot up and I met Fang's laughing eyes. "There is one good thing about this."

"Don't you dare say that 'you love me-- you love me this much'." I held up my hands at 'this much', but I wasn't ashamed or embarrassed enough to blush.

"You still remember that?" His pupils twinkled in mirth and I nodded with a glare. "I guess I did scar you-- but I wasn't going to say that."

I was about to reply with a question, but he was suddenly right in front of me and my breath hitched in my mouth against my will.

"I love you," he said softly. "I love you this much," and then he leaned down and his lips connected with the sweaty skin of my forehead.

The kiss was swift and ended in a moment, but I still felt the lingering feeling on my clammy skin as he stepped away, a film of red spreading over the bridge of his nose.

But, frankly I didn't have time for stupid feelings right now. "Fang, that was absolutely the sappiest and lamest thing you have ever done."

"We both know I'm a closet romantic and a passionately sappy man." He shrugged unabashed, but he was still blushing and sarcastic as ever.

"I had my suspicions, but you have finally proven me correct," I answered-- beating my insides up as my cheeks felt the need to redden slightly. I turned my head to shield this possible obstacle. "And now, we need to go save the flock." The realization hit me like the mad hatter on acid and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.

"If they need saving," Fang mumbled and rose into the sky.

I guess we would find out soon enough.

W

"They're set," Gazzy flitted nervously next to Iggy, anxiously checking the wire selection. "Okay," Iggy slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out an ancient looking stop watch. He clicked it until it beeped, "does that say three?" The Gasman, stooped down and examined the pulsing green light before giving a quick, chirpy "yep".

"Yes, then," Iggy paused momentarily letting something click inside of the makeshift bomb (which was complied heavily out of second hand technology and common chemicals). "I'm guessing half mile."

"Un-huh, want me to light?"

"No," Iggy frowned briefly as he ran his fingers against the thick, freezing metal of the water tower. He located the thin line of gun powder that lead away from the explosive pack and followed the trail to the other end of the tower. "I'll do it." Gazzy was strong, he could fight, he could smash Eraser faces in no problem, but the truth was, he wasn't as fast as Iggy. Lighting the fuse was all about speed.; light the thing and get heck out of dodge. " How far?"

"Thirty seconds."

"I can hear them," the air seemed to reverberate with the incessant beating; the wild intelligible attempts at the animals to stay aloft. "Gaz, go now." Iggy felt, rather than saw him leap into the air and hurtle in the opposite direction. _It's time to set 'em down_, Iggy thought, procuring a match from somewhere inside his clothing.

The world was now a cacophonous symphony, but he ignored the angered gurgles and swiftly swiped the match across a small pad he had been holding. _Three, _he bent his legs, _two_, he set the match a centimeter above the powder_, one_, he dropped the match and kicked off the tower, plummeting to the ground at suicidal speeds.

He didn't need eyes to know that the unstable reaction was seconds from happening. Iggy tucked his wings in and let them out at the last second, allowing his body to be propelled like a fork out of a cannon.

The first explosion went off in a matter of milliseconds, followed by a blast that caused Iggy to careen off to the right sharply before he cold right himself. And it was still a full three seconds before he heard the screams.

Iggy liked bombs; the reason was perhaps because it made him feel semi-useful, but he wasn't a monster. He didn't enjoy the writhing screams that cut through the air, or the distorted thwacks of fleshy bodies pasting themselves to the asphalt.

So that was maybe the reason why his unseeing eyes scrunched up in an internal pain.

Only a few more days-- a few more weeks-- and this would be all over. And with a little hope, maybe he would still be alive.

He didn't stop to see (or rather hear) if there were any survivors, instead he rocketed off towards the mountains.

W

"Bombs should go off in three, two, one…" A far off boom sounded and Nudge let out the breath she had been holding, squeezing Angel's fingers.

"Good, catch anything?" Her worry sped her words up, reminiscent of her talkative past and present.

"No," Angels ratty curls smacked her face as she shook her head, but Nudge could see pain construe some of her features. "Most of the Erasers are dead though…. Or dying".

"Can you hear their thoughts?" Nudge hadn't meant to say it, but it kind of leapt out of mouth on its own accord. She clamped it shut and bit her lip.

"Yeah… They hurt alot, I can hear some of them screaming," her small frame shook and Nudge moved closer to her, letting her fall into her lap. "They're dying Nudge."

Angel was strong, smart and beautiful-- but no seven year old should have to witness such atrocities. "Maybe they'll go to a better place Angel, they'll run around and frolic in the fields, chew on bones, people will love them and they'll love themselves. I don't know if there's a God Angel-- I hope there is-- but if he or she exists then Erasers will have a heaven too. Don't you think that would be wonderful?" Angel nodded mutely into her almost flat chest, but Nudge could see her eyes water.

She sighed and lay her chin on Angel's head, the little girl's hair hard and oily from the lack of bathing. None of them had really kept themselves up well, sure they were alive, but hardly. Her eyes moved over to Gazzy; the strong little soldier had his wings splayed open and was watching the sky furiously for his right arm. Nudge felt her lips brush into an affectionate smile as he turned when he felt her gaze on him.

"Hey Nudge," he backed up slowly and brushed his feather's with her as he sat next to his sister and stroked her hair.

"Hey Gazzy." Nudge ruffled his hair in a playful manor before returning her iris's to the sky, she caught sight of a familiar figure and smiled. "Iggy's coming," but Max and Fang were still gone.

W

"Fang, what the hell--?" The water tower disappeared in a single instant and it was enveloped in dust and fire. It clicked in my mind like so many other times it had: bomb.

It was strange how the old reflexes existed, like I never lost them, like Iggy had set off a massive bomb just yesterday when it had really been years since he went to such and extent.

I grabbed Fang's hand, our wings awkwardly crashing into each others as I forced us out of the sky and to the ground.

Fang landed on top of me and had the decency to roll off and shove both of our heads down to the gravel when the recoil wave sliced through the atmosphere and slammed into our bodies. My arm was latched tightly onto Fang's waist and my head was buried under his upper arm. I felt something rip the skin on my arm and I bit the inside of my mouth to prevent myself from crying out, but a frail whimper crawled through my lips.

The rustling of wind died down as quickly as it had picked up and a couple of seconds lapsed before I dared move.

"Fang?" I peeked out from underneath him, my eyes large as orbs as I saw the crater ahead of us, however it looked moderately safe.

I began to stand up, but his arm grasped me and pulled me down. "Is it clear?" Fang's voice sounded unnaturally concerned and I pulled out of his hold.

"Yeah.. You gotta see this Fang," I leaned on a car next to us and observed the imperfect charred land. The smell was just beginning to invade the air and I could see the bodies burning, it smelt of death and sadness. I unconsciously slipped my hand into Fang's and squeezed it deathly hard. "Let's see what happened to the flock."

"I bet Iggy set that off," he sounded proud and I took off into the dusky darkness. My wings made a circular pattern as I rose above the smoke and gulped the fresh air.

"Who else would've done it Fang?" I said sarcastically, but concern ruined it from coming out properly. We still weren't out of this yet. "I suggest we pick up our speed, I doubt these animals aren't the revenge ridden type and it seems like they've bred an army."

"Where would the flock go Max? I told Ig to round up everyone at the water tower." He had a point, but I pushed onward anyway.

"Yes and there is only really one choice then-- the mountains. I take it Iggy's not as stupid as he sometimes seems."

Fang chuckled at this and we swooped over the remains of the water tower with little grace or care.

The mountains were misty little buggers and they were thick with smog from the disease filled city. The trees clung to the cliffs like animals clinging on for dear life and the rocks were oddly colored and sick. I circled around, my wingspan hitting the air with a soft snapping sound.

"Max, I don't see them--" and as Fang said that I did. They had perched up high on a red rock shelf, Nudge was arguing with a tall pale boy, Gazzy was following their conversation with a grimace and Angel-- my smart little baby-- was smiling and waving at us.

"Straight up and then swing a left," I told Fang happily and then gave a soft whoop as I took the distance in a couple of seconds.

Nudge was the second to see our lithe forms squiggling through the sky.

"Max! Fang! God, are you two alright!" She sprang into the air like a bottle rocket and nearly knocked me out of the sky in order to hug me. I managed to land and except her exuberant hug, mentally calculating the immense number of bruises and cuts on her body and ignoring my own pain as she squeezed my ribs.

"You made it back Nudge, I'm so proud of you!" I ruffled her feathers with my hand and covered my grimace of pain with a smile when I pulled away.

"Did you expect me to run into a building or something?" She scoffed, but instantly became more serious as she met my eyes. "Are you okay? You look terrible, you have bruises all over your body and blood-- did you have a date with a blender recently? Well you're alive! Do you know how worried we were!? We all thought you were dead, what would we have done?" She rambled on like the Nudge and Fang, acting completely out of character, cut her off with a quick "shut up Nudge". It was mean but relatively adroit as she shot him a nasty glare before barreling into him and locking her hands around his waist.

I looked away, shaking my head and pulling Angel into a tight hug (one that squeezed the air out of her lungs and caused me to wince in pain) before pulling Gazzy and Iggy into a similar fate. I even hugged the damn dog.

We were finally together, together and for the time being safe.

I watched Fang exchange flustered hugs with Iggy (both weren't sure if they should handshake or hug and Ig went for the hug at the exact same time Fang stuck out his hand to shake Iggy's. Fang ended up accidentally punching Ig and now they were yelling at each other's stupidity.) and Nudge snickered from next to me as Angel danced around us like a sprite.

"They look like oafs don't they?" She whispered and I nodded. She had just finished healing my ribs and had started on my minor cuts when I stopped her and told her that I looked sexy with cuts-- this caused her to stare at me open mouthed, Fang to raise and eyebrow and smirk, Iggy to proclaim that means he must be the sexiest of us all, and Gazzy and Angel burst into a fit of giggles. My aim had been to stop her from using her energy to heal me and it worked like a charm, with a bit of embarrassment on my part, but I won't complain.

"Hey," my nostalgic moment was interrupted by Jack Skeleton wannabe. He had settled himself right in front of me and was staring at me intently. "Do we want to get going?"

The flock's eyes all focused on me immediately and I felt as if I was giving a speech to the troops. But in truth, if we stayed here any longer we were in danger and we were terribly off schedule.

"Okay guys, we're loosing time fast and we still have a long way to go and frankly I can't sleep a wink with all I've witnessed in the past few hours," I pulled my backpack on and regarded them seriously. Total was the only one completely ignoring me and was asleep in Iggy's arm. I ignored the little twerp. "We'll eat, sleep, and relieve ourselves in a few hours, but right now we have to get the heck out of dodge. I have no intention of becoming the special on the next Eraser platter."

"I hear you," Gazzy rolled his shoulders with a crack. "But we have to reload." Damn, I forgot about the problems of relying in machinery.

"Okay, how many bullets do you guys have? How much ammunition?" There was a moment of people rifling through bags and then a chorus of "I'm out", some swear words (when Gazzy swore I glared at him) and some examination of weaponry before I reached the conclusion that we needed to stop at a town.

"Okay, okay calm down." My teeth rattled as Nudge explained for the millionth time that Gazzy should get a Bazooka. "Pit stop tomorrow at some village to get bullets, guns etcetera, but we gotta head out."

And then we were soaring again, abandoning our campsite and hitting the skies with a big, bloody, pimple behind us and a monstrous zit ahead.

I love my life.

**I finally updated! (not that it's that good-- personally this chapter was a ton of crap-- nothing really happened and I want to write violence) Next chapter will hopefully be up in the week, mainly because I want to have a completed story down. Thank you to anyone that has stayed with me thus far-- you are amazing for doing so-- and please review. **

**Flamingflie**


End file.
